Pulling up the Joint Commissioner-cum-Executive Officer of the famed Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple, Srirangam, for his high-handed approach in handling religious issues at the temple, the Madras High Court has noted that the officer has “huge attitude problem, making him practically unfit to the post he is holding.”
The First Bench of Chief Justice S.K. Kaul and Justice M. Sundar made the observation while hearing a PIL moved by Rangarajan Narasimhan, a resident of Srirangam. The petitioner prayed the court to direct the Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, and the Executive Officer (EO) of Srirangam temple to remove barricades blocking the second prakara (outer part around the temple sanctum) and make it available for devotees to do prathakshina in the prakara .
According to the petitioner, he made a representation to the EO to take action on the issue, but instead of taking any fruitful action, the EO threatened to initiate civil and criminal proceedings against the petitioner if he continued to make such complaints.
Contending that blocking the second prakara was tantamount to interfering in the religious affairs of the devotees, the petitioner produced copies of the letters sent by the EO to him. Perusing the letters, the Bench said, “The response sent by the EO is highly condemnable. Instead of addressing the issue in question, he speaks about the lack of knowledge of the petitioner in performing poojas, as if he himself is an acharya and not only an executive officer.”
Referring to an allegation made by the EO that the petitioner was acting like a High Court judge, the Bench wondered what does the officer really mean. “He takes a stand that he is the competent authority to decide on the religious and administrative activities in the temple, which is not so, as the religious activities can not be kept to the executive officer,” the judges said.
Observing that the officer has some misgivings about the authority he holds and has a huge attitude problem, the Bench called upon him to file an affidavit explaining his acts within a week and posted the plea to February 13 for further hearing.
