The Madras High Court has granted interim stay of an order of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of November 29 last year directing the Arulmigu Vaithianathaswamy Devasthanam, Vaitheeswarankoil, Nagapattinam district, to fix salary of ‘gurukkals' and employees at 40 per cent of the temple income.
Passing the order on a petition filed by the devasthanam, represented by its hereditary trustee, Sri-la-Sri Gurumaha Sannithanam of Dharmapuram Adheenam, Justice P. Jyothimani said the stay would be in force till February 1. He ordered notice.
The petitioner said the department order was vitiated on several grounds.
The authorities failed to see that an earlier order of June 1998 as well as the consequential orders had no application to the petitioner's temple, it being part and parcel of the ‘math.'
The authorities had failed to see that the administrative expenditure already incurred by the petitioner temple was around 25 per cent.
“No justification”
Therefore, there was no justification for directing a salary increase.
The petitioner prayed the court to quash the order as it was contrary to the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act.
