N. LAKSHMANAN Vs. COMMISSIONER, HINDU RELIGIOUS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A public temple which goes by the name 'Arulmigu Venugopala Swamy Temple, Situate in Beema Nagar, Trichy' (hereinafter 'said temple' for the sake of convenience and clarity) is the subject matter of captioned writ petition and appointment of Executive Officer of Sedal Mariamman Thirukovil (also situate in Beema Nagar, Trichy) as Fit person (jf;fhh;) of said temple vide order dtd. 30/11/2021 bearing reference nr.K.e.f.vz;. 2888/2016/m5 made by the third respondent, consequential communication of fourth respondent dtd. 27/12/2021 and challenge to the same is the central theme of the captioned writ petition.

(2.) Mr.VR.Shanmuganathan, learned counsel for writ petitioner, Mr.A.Baskaran, learned Additional Government Pleader who accepted notice on behalf of respondents 1 to 3 and Dr.C.Guhaseelarupan, learned private counsel who accepted notice on behalf of fourth respondent (Executive Officer of Sedal Mariamman Thirukovil who has been appointed as Fit person of said temple) are before this virtual Court, with the consent of all the learned counsel, main writ petition is taken up and heard out.

(3.) Owing to the narrow compass on which the captioned matter turns, factual matrix in a nutshell will suffice. Short facts shorn of particulars which are not imperative for appreciating this order are that said temple is a public temple governed by 'The Tamil Nadu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 (Tamil Nadu Act 22 of 1959)' (hereinafter 'TN HR&CE Act' for the sake of convenience and clarity); that said temple is therefore under 'Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, Government of Tamil Nadu' (hereinafter 'TN HR&CE Dept.' for the sake of convenience and clarity); that it is the case of the writ petitioner that said temple was constructed by his ancestors about 100 years WP(MD) No.461 of 2022 ago; that writ petitioner moved the second respondent (jurisdictional Joint Commissioner of TN HR&CE Dept.) vide O.A.No.30 of 2016 under Sec. 63(b) of TN HR&CE Act with a prayer to declare the office of trusteeship of said temple as hereditary; that O.A.No.30 of 2016 came to be disposed of after full enquiry by the second respondent by an order dtd. 15/7/2020; that the writ petitioner has carried the same in appeal by way of a statutory appeal under Sec. 69(1) of TN HR&CE Act vide A.P.No.25/2021/D2; that the statutory appeal is now pending on the file of first respondent (Commissioner of TN HR&CE Dept.); that under such circumstances, the third respondent (jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner of TN HR&CE Dept.) issued proceedings dtd. 30/11/2021 bearing reference nr.K.e.f.vz;2888/2016/.m5 appointing Executive Officer of Sedal Mariamman Thirukovil, Trichy as Fit person of said temple; that these proceedings were not served on the writ petitioner and the writ petitioner obtained the same by way of taking the 'Right to Information Act, 2005' ('RTI Act' for the sake of brevity) route; that pursuant to this 30/11/2021 proceedings, the fourth respondent has now sent a communication dtd. 27/12/2021 to the writ petitioner inter alia calling upon the writ petitioner to hand over the responsibilities qua said temple WP(MD) No.461 of 2022 within seven days; that assailing the order dtd. 30/11/2021 of the third respondent and the communication from fourth respondent dtd. 27/12/2021, captioned writ petition has been filed.