The Madras High Court on Monday sought the response of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department to a public interest litigation petition which claimed that the presence of Executive Officers in as many as 60 popular temples in the State is illegal since they had not been appointed in accordance with law.
Justices M.M. Sundresh and R. Hemalatha ordered notice to the State Government after hearing senior counsel G. Rajagopalan representing the PIL petitioner, T.R. Ramesh, of Indic Collective Trust.
The litigant claimed that information obtained by him under the Right to Information Act of 2005 proved that the presence of Executive Officers even in Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, Kapaleeswarar Temple at Mylapore in Chennai and Subramaniaswamy temples in Tiruttani and Tiruchendur was clearly illegal.
He recalled that the practice of State control over…