The Madras High Court on Wednesday wanted to know whether the State government is receptive to the idea of appointing degree holders from the Government College of Architecture and Sculpture at Mamallapuram near here as stapathis of temples or as Assistant Engineers in the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Ddepartment.
Justice R. Mahadevan directed Special Government Pleader M. Maharajan to ascertain the government’s stand on the issue by October 25. He issued the direction on a writ petition filed by one of the graduates D.V. Murugan who had been doing work related to temple architecture and sculpture since 1994 by establishing a private studio.
During the course of hearing of the case, the judge said the government could always consider recruiting meritorious candidates who pass out of the college to the post of
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In his affidavit, the petitioner said the government college at Mamallapuram was established in 1957 with the objective of preserving the ancient craft of making sculptures and other art works. Affiliated to the University of Madras, the institute teaches about 58 subjects including temple architecture, iconography and
The courses offered by the college include Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) in traditional architecture and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in traditional drawing and painting. Around 40 students pass out of the college every year, and so far, approximately 1,800 students had graduated from it since its establishment, the petitioner claimed.
Such graduates would be most suitable to carry out maintenance and repair works in over 38,600 temples under the control of the HR&CE department, the petitioner said, and sought a direction to the government to appoint them either as
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