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Tamil Development, Culture and Religious Endowments Department Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department POLICY NOTE 2005 - 2006 Demand No. 45
INTRODUCTION The innumerous temples situated throughout Tamil Nadu spread information worldwide regarding the pristine glory of the history, art and culture of Tamil Nadu. These temples not only act as centers for public worship, but also stand as the archaeological remains of the hoary Hindu Culture and Tradition, and the symbols of the rich, developed Tamil Culture of the past. One of the foremost responsibilities for the Government is to ensure an efficient and proper management and the maintenance of the temples and endowments attached thereto. The Department pays great attention to protection and preservation of the assets of the temples, ensuring strict observance of the tradition, custom and usage in worship and also providing necessary amenities for the devotees.
Those who provide food to the people living in this earth, have really provide life to them. With a view to bringing these golden lines of the Sangam Script (Purananooru) to reality, this Government has implemented Annadhanam Scheme providing good noon meal in 171 temples in the State for the devotees. HINDU RELIGIOUS AND CHARITABLE ENDOWMENTS ADMINISTRATION Even before the year 1925, measures have been taken for the efficient administration and supervision of the Hindu Religious Charitable Endowments in Tamil Nadu. Hindu temples, Endowments and Holy Mutts were supervised by the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Board in the year 1925. However, it was replaced by a separate Act in the year 1927. Several Amendment Acts were enacted between 1927 and 1951. In the year 1951, the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Board was abolished paving way for the administration of the religious institutions by the Government. An amended Act of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act 22/1959 came into force from 01.01.1960 after making appropriate amendments to the 1951 Act. The said Act also later got amended several times and finally, the Tamil Nadu (Amendment) Act, 1996 (Amendment Act 39/1996) was enacted and this is in force since 09.12.1996. Through this Act, the powers and duties of the Commissioner and other Subordinate Officers have been defined besides making provisions for supervisions and administration of the temples and endowments. HINDU RELIGIOUS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS There are 38,409 Hindu Religious, Charitable and Jain Institutions under the management of this Department in Tamil Nadu. The details are as below:
The Religious Institutions have been classified into two categories viz., Non – Listed and Listed Institutions on the basis of their annual income as below:
ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE Under the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act 1959 as amended by Act 39/1996, the administration of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Administration Department is headed by the Commissioner in the cadre of an I.A.S. The Commissioner is solely responsible for the general administration, functioning and supervision of this Department. At the Headquarters the following Officers assist the Commissioner: Additional Commissioner Joint Commissioner (Head Quarters) Joint Commissioner (Thiruppani) Personal Assistant to the Commissioner (in the cadre of Assistant Commissioner) Additional Personal Assistant to the Commissioner (Assistant Commissioner cadre) Assistant Commissioner (Legal Cell) Assistant Commissioner (Jewels Verification) Officers serving on deputation from other departments to assist the Commissioner: I. (1) Special Officer (Temple Lands) – (in the cadre of District Revenue Officer) Special Tahsildars -3 (Kumbakonam, Chidambaram & Madurai) II. (1) Superintending Engineer Executive Engineer Assistant Divisional Engineer Assistant Engineer Draughtsman III. (1) Senior Accounts Officer (Pay & Accounts Department) (2) Assistant Accounts Officer (Pay & Accounts Department) IV. (1) Chief Audit Officer (In the cadre of Deputy Secretary, Finance Department) The above officers are assisting the Commissioner both in the administration of the Head Office and the Subordinate Office regarding lands, establishment, renovations, suits, auditing, etc. of the temple administration. For the administrative convenience, the statewide administration of this department has been divided into ‘10’ separate Regions, each headed by a Joint Commissioner. Such regions have further been divided into 22 divisions each having an Assistant Commissioner as the administrative head. They are as detailed below:
There is an Assistant Commissioner for the Icon Centre at Thiruvarur and there are 9 Assistant Commissioners and a Deputy Commissioner working as Jewels Verification Officers at the respective Joint Commissioners’ regions. An Assistant Divisional Engineer and a Draughtsman are working in each Joint Commissioner’s Division to carry out renovation works in the Religious Institutions through preparation of estimates and supervision. Every Assistant Commissioner’s division has an Assistant Engineer for preparation of estimates and supervision of works. For the purpose of periodical auditing at all religious institutions, there are 2 Deputy Chief Audit Officers and 17 Regional Audit Officers and 28 Assistant Audit Officers working in this Department. There is a Regional Audit Officer at the Head Office who assist the Commissioner on inspecting the Mutts. ADMINISTRATION OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS Depending on the significance, revenue, assets and other activities of the Religious Institutions, the following posts of Executive Officers in various cadres have been sanctioned for supervising the administration of the temples.
ADMINISTRATION OF MUTTS At present 56 Mutts and 19 endowments attached to those Mutts, are under the control of this department. To ensure the proper administration of these mutts, a separate Audit Section consisting of a Regional Audit Officer and other officers is functioning at the Head Office to assist the Commissioner. DISTRICT COMMITTEES As per the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Act, the Government has to constitute District Committees at all districts with a Chairman and four members. Accordingly, 30 District Committees have been constituted for 30 Districts. The Assistant Commissioner of the respective division is functioning as the Co-ordinator for the Committees. APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES To administer every temple according to the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Act, Trustees are appointed for the temples. The Government directly appoints trustees for the religious institutions getting an annual income of Rs.10,00,000/- and above. As recommended by the District Committees, the Commissioner appoints the trustees for the religious institutions getting an annual income not less than Rs.2,00,000/- and not more than Rs.10,00,000/-. Persons of eminence and reputation have been appointed as Trustees according to these norms at various temples and they are functioning as Trust Boards electing their Chairman and help for the growth of the respective institutions. The District Committees examine and submit the list of qualified persons to be appointed as Trustees for the Non-listed Temples and Listed Temples with an annual income of less than Rs.10,00,000/-. The Joint Commissioner of the respective region appoints Trustees for the temples with an annual income not less than Rs.10,000/- and not more than Rs.2,00,000/- as per the recommendation of the District Committee. The Assistant Commissioner of the respective region appoints Trustees for the Non-listed temples getting an annual income less than Rs.10,000/- as per the recommendation of the District Committee. Except for the institutions where the Government appoints the Trustees, all the other institutions will have that Trustees appointed in the above manner but the number of trustees would only be 3. An additional number of 2 trustees may be appointed directly by the Government if so desired. As explained above, the appointed Trustees are now discharging their duties at 452 temples. Action is being taken for the earlier appointment of Non-hereditary trustees at all the remaining institutions. Non-hereditary Trustees cannot be appointed in 8,633 Institutions where the management is run either by the Hereditary Trustees or cases of disputes related to the office of the trusteeship are pending. LAND ADMINISTRATION BY RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS (a) Details of Lands, Buildings and Sites: There are 4,79,138.28 acres of Dry, Wet and Maanavari lands belonging to all the religious institutions as detailed below:
There are 1,20,339 leaseholders in temple lands. There are 23,388 building tenants in 22,599 buildings and 58,936 site tenants in 33,627 sites enjoying the temple buildings and sites respectively. (b) Revenue Court: In order to collect the dues, fixing fair rent and to enquire into cases related to such arrears due with regard to cultivable lands and to evict the defaulters, Revenue Courts are functioning at the following places presided by the Special Deputy Collectors.
21,365 cases have been filed before these Courts to collect arrears of Rs.25.73 crores. By the disposal of 7,292 cases, an amount to the tune of Rs.4.48 crores have been ordered to be paid up to the temples and steps are being taken to collect the same. A balance of Rs.21.25 crore arrears is involved in the 14,073 number of pending cases before the Revenue Courts. (C) Fair Rent Fixation: The Fair Rent Committee constituted by the Commissioner is functioning at all Regions. The Committee revises the rates for the building and sites once in every 3 years. The Committee fixes fair rent based on the market value of the site and building as per the Government Order concerned. The guidelines of calculation were issued on 04.06.1999 but temporarily the order remained suspended from 27.04.2000. Later, the order of suspension was re-examined by the Government and ordered to be revived from 01.11.2001. Accordingly the fair rent is being fixed for the buildings, sites etc belonging to the temple. So far, 17,402 buildings and 35,184 sites have been fixed fair rent fetching an increase of Rs.4.75 crores increase in the revenue. The Fair Rent Committee continues their task of fixing fastly the fair rents for the rest of the buildings and sites of the Temples.
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