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Tamil Nadu's Temple Gold Monetisation Initiative Has Been Halted By Madras High Court
Madras High Court (File/Photo)
- The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department's grandiose temple gold monetisation initiative has been blocked by the Madras High Court.
- The bench, which included Justice PD Audikesavalu, permitted the three-member panel headed by a former Supreme Court judge to proceed with the inventory inspection.
The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department's grandiose temple gold monetisation initiative has been blocked by the Madras High Court. On Thursday, a division bench led by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee ruled that temple gold can not be burned even without trustees' agreement.
The decision was made in response to petitions submitted by Saravanan and Gopal Krishnan, who sought judgments to invalidate the HR&CE department's Sept. 9 GO on the gold monetisation initiative. While directing the department not to destroy gold, the bench, which included Justice PD Audikesavalu, permitted the three-member panel headed by a former Supreme Court judge to proceed with the inventory inspection.
The HR&CE intends to melt 2137 kg of leftover gold jewellery acquired as gifts into gold bars and deposited them in nationalised banks. The profits will be utilised to fund temple upkeep and development projects.
Meanwhile, MK Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, just started the initiative. Right-wing organisations have been railing against the programme since its inception. Furthermore, the government said that such a programme had been in place since 1977 and that 500 kg of gold had been dissolved and placed in banks, generating Rs 11 crore in interest.
