The judicial inquiry under Section 63 of the Tamil Nadu HR&CE Act must be conducted by the Joint Commissioner, as the power to delegate this authority is not granted, ensuring legal compliance and due process.

ORDER :

MOHAMMED SHAFFIQ, J.

The present writ petition is filed praying for issuance of a writ of mandamus to direct the 2^nd respondent viz., The Inspector, Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department, Srivilliputhur to submit a report afresh before the 1^st respondent i.e., The Joint Commissioner, Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department, Madurai by conducting an inquiry as contemplated under the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Act 22/1959 (in short "the Act")., in respect of O.A.No.30/2023.

2. Brief Facts

2.1. The petitioner is a trustee of Arulmighu Thangavinayagar Temple, Vathrayapu, Virudhunagar District. The said Temple was consecrated in the early 1900's by Adhinarayana Pillai and Chinnasamy Pillai, children of Gurusamy Pillai. Both of whom did not have any male children. In terms of the will of the founder of the Temple, the Temple could be administered by male legal heirs. Muthusamy Pillai, Sangaiya Pillai and Thillainayagam Pillai are the children of the sisters of Adhinarayana Pillai and Chinnasamy Pillai.

2.2. A settlement deed was executed on 15.04.1937 conferring the rights of trusteeship on Muthusamy Pillai, Sangaiya Pillai and Thillainayagam Pillai. Pursuant to the above settlement deed, they were functioning as trustees of the petition Temple. While so, Muthusamy Pillai and Sangaiya Pillai died without any male children, leaving Thillainayagam Pillai as the sole trustee of the Temple. After the demise of Thillainayagam Pillai, his legal heir Muthukrishna Pillai continued as Trustee of the Temple. The petitioner viz., Muthukumar and Krishnakumar are the children of Muthukrishna Pillai, who are the present managing trustees of the Temple.

2.3. While so, a notice was issued by the Assistant Commissioner, Virudhunagar District calling for application, for appointment to the office of non-hereditary Trustee of the petition temple, fixing the last date for submission of application as 07.09.2023. Aggrieved by the above notice calling for application from eligible persons for appointment as non-hereditary Trustee, the petitioner filed a writ petition in W.P.(MD).No.21845 of 2023. The above writ petition was disposed of by this Court, vide order dated 08.09.2023, whereby, the impugned notice calling for appointment of non- hereditary trustees to the petition Temple was quashed, on the premise that the petitioner's ancestors have constructed the Temple and the respondent authorities cannot appoint non-hereditary trustee, without issuing notice to the petitioner. This Court followed the order of the Division Bench of this Court in Suo Motu W.P.No. 574 of 2015 dated 07.06.2021, wherein, under the heading “Trustee”, certain directives were issued. The following portion of the Division Bench order of this Court was extracted by the learned Judge in the order dated 08.09.2023;

"TRUSTEE

(54) The HR&CE Department shall file a report before this Court within a period of eight (8) weeks listing out the number of temples without Trustees, the duration of such vacancy, the particulars of the persons appointed as "Fit Person" and the steps taken by the Department to appoint trustees.

(55) If no hereditary trustees stake claim, then steps must be taken to appoint non-hereditary trustees. The non-hereditary trustees must be from the religious denomination, to which the temple belongs to, without the political background.

(56) Stringent rules on the conduct, character, interest and knowledge on both religious affairs as well as administrative abilities of the trustees, must be enacted to ensure that the right person is appointed to manage the religious affairs of the temples.

(57) Keeping in mind that the overall administration shall be with the HR&CE Department, the authorities shall