Chennai: Posing tough questions at the Tamilnadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department for taking over of the administration of the Ayodhya Mandapam in Chennai, the Madras High Court has decided to quash the orders of the department, and a single judge who dismissed a petition against the order for taking over the prayer hall.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy asked what business the government has in a private hall, and further pointed to the show cause notice issued without details of allegations.
Turning down the Advocate General’s arguments, the Chief Justice stated a petition could not be dismissed citing ‘availability of remedy’ after keeping it for eight years. He said the orders of the department to take over the facility, and the order of Justice VM Velumani dismissing the petition would be set aside. However, the government can hold a fresh inquiry by following due procedures and proceed further, he added.
The Bench also said that a fair opportunity of hearing must be given to the Samaj before the conclusion of the fresh inquiry and that the latter must be allowed to run its affairs until the completion of such inquiry. Earlier, senior counsel Satish Parasaran, representing the Samaj, said, it was created by a few senior citizens with their hard earned money and they had got it registered as a society in 1958.
Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram countered his arguments and said the action was initiated following complaints from a former office-bearer regarding financial mismanagement at the mandapam.
Satish Parasaran blamed the authorities concerned for not following the procedures in a fair manner as they did not cite the allegations in the show cause notice, and failed to serve a copy of the complaint. He also questioned the single judge’s order dismissing the petition filed against the 2013 order of the HR&CE to take over the administration.