Mylapore Kapaleeswarar Temple Funds Issue - TR Ramesh Speaks To Swarajya On Govt's Cultural Centre Project

Temple activist TR Ramesh recently posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he would move court regarding the announcement of the construction of a 'cultural centre' using the funds of the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore in land owned by the temple near Greenways Road in south Chennai.

In the same post, he also mentioned that he had previously challenged the use of the temple's funds for the construction of a college in Kolathur, located in north Chennai, which is Chief Minister MK Stalin's constituency.

Swarajya spoke to Ramesh to understand why does he consider use of the temple's funds for the construction of a cultural centre and colleges to be a wrongful usage of the temple funds.

Following are edited excerpts-

You have said that funds from the Kapaleeswarar Temple were taken for constructing a college in Chief Minister MK Stalin's constituency in 2021 and that you have obtained a stay for similar college proposals. Could you please tell us more about it?

In 2021, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HRCE) department started four colleges with temple money. The college in Kolathur, Chief Minister Stalin's constituency, i.e., Arulmigu Kapaleeswarar Arts and Science College, was started in a temporary building with the funds of Kapaleeswarar temple. It was inaugurated by Chief Minister Stalin himself.

Later, they submitted before the court that they were going to construct the permanent buildings of the college in the land of Somanathaswamy temple, Kolathur, which is a different temple.

The approximate estimate for the construction of the college buildings is Rs 15 crore. This is pending because I have filed a case and I got a stay order for six more colleges. And these four colleges also are subject to final order of the court.

So now, Kapaleeswarar temple has got only Rs 75 crore deposits. Rs 15 crore is going away for the college. Now the amount called for tender for this cultural center is approximately Rs 24 crore. So Rs 15 crore plus Rs 24 crore will be Rs 39 crore, which will deplete Kapaleeswarar Temple's corpus fund by more than 50 per cent.

Can a college be built with temple funds?

Yes. But there is a process for it. You can do it only with the surplus funds of the temple. The surplus funds of a temple will be calculated every year.

And this college or school that has been started, should teach Hindu religion as the main subject. They cannot just start a secular college and use temple money.

Could you please tell us about the procedure to start a college with temple funds?

Before starting the college or school or hospital, or any of the purposes for which the surplus funds could be used, the trustees should send the proposal to the commissioner. The commissioner should advertise the proposal in a leading newspaper and call for objections/suggestions, giving one month's time.

After one month, he should hold an inquiry, in his office, where also devotees can come and give objections and suggestions. He should consider them all and only then give the approval.

Was the procedure followed for the college?

This was not done for the college. So that is totally illegal. You would be surprised to know that Kapaleeswarar Temple did not even send an application to the government to start a college.

If you and I want to start a private college, a self-financed college, we have to create an endowment agency and through that agency, apply for government approval to start a college, i.e., if you want to start a college in 2023, you should have made the application before 30th September 2022.

That was not done at all.

And after getting the approval, they are approaching the university. The university has also not processed the application from an endowment because Kapaleeswarar Temple did not start a separate endowment for the college.

Then, there is no connection between Kapaleeswarar temple and the Chief Minister's constituency, i.e., Kolathur.

They have land in Mylapore itself, where they could have easily started a college.

You have stated that the proposed construction of the cultural centre is a violation of the law. Please tell us about it.

A cultural centre is not one of the purposes for which temple money can be spent. It is clearly not allowed. Temple money can be spent for temple purposes, such as poojas, festivals, temple charities, salaries of the temple staff and annadanam and with the surplus funds, you can start Veda pathshala, Agama pathshala, hospitals, orphanages, schools, colleges, of course, subject to conditions.

Are these conditions mentioned in the Act?

Yes. This is there in Section 66 of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious Charitable Endowments Act 1959. This Section also contains the above- mentioned procedure for approval by the Commissioner.

How surplus funds are calculated is mentioned in Section 36 of the Act.

So even with the surplus funds, even with the commissioner's approval or the trustees' proposals, you cannot start a cultural centre. That is not one of the allowed purposes because temple money should be for traditional temple purposes only. Now teaching or hospitals or taking care of orphanages is all charity. A cultural centre is not a charity.

So what they are doing is not only they are bypassing the need for restricting their expense within the surplus funds, they are going and taking money from the corpus funds.

These corpus funds are built over many years. The hundi money, the archana ticket, the darshan ticket, the income from the properties etc. You cannot take from the corpus funds. The corpus funds also include money that has come from the sale of temple property. Such money should be kept intact. It should never be touched. So this is a violation of that also.

Is there any other reason for considering it to be a violation? Are there any court judgements?

An announcement made by the minister, will itself make the whole announcement illegal. The college was announced in the state Assembly, regarding the cultural centre, I am not sure.

The moment the government, who is no authority to decide how to spend temple money, makes a decision and announces it, it will make the entire proposal illegal. This has been said in many Supreme Court judgments.

The moment, the Chief Minister who is not an authority here decides or the Minister decides or the government, i.e., the government secretary decides, it becomes illegal per se. So looking at it from all angles, this is an illegal utilization of temple funds.

In your post, you stated that the HRCE department is present in the temple by "Fraud". Could you please explain the reason for saying so?

The HRCE department has been controlling the Kapaleeswarar Temple through an Executive Officer from the year 1972. The truth is no such Executive Officer was ever appointed. Under what section, what terms, and for what period they have appointed, they will not be able to show, because there is no such order. The situation is similar in many other temples.

Swarajya has written to the HRCE Commissioner for his response. This copy will be updated when a response is received.