HC asks Odisha Endowment Comm to file affidavit on protection

The Odisha government today told the High Court it is taking measures for proper administration and protection of Hindu religious institutions, including temples in the state.
The government filed an affidavit to this effect in response to a High Court notice arising out of a petition made by a senior lawyer of the Ganjam Bar Association, which was converted into a PIL by Chief Justice Vineet Saran earlier this month.
Not satisfied with the law department's affidavit, a division bench of Chief Justice Saran and Justice B R Sarangi issued yet another notice to the state Endowment Commissioner asking him to file another affidavit within two weeks and posted the matter for next month.

In his petition, advocate Ashok Kumar Rath had complained about the precarious condition of many temples in the state and urged the judiciary to step in to save them, contending they promoted unity and harmony.
"It is the duty of Courts to protect and safeguard the properties of religious and charitable institutions from wrongful claims or misappropriation," Rath said in his letter to the Chief Justice.
Encroaching on temple properties, digging temple sites to get rich, meddling with temple accounts, blackmailing temple managements and tampering with temple jewellery were now rampant in the state, Rath said.
Highlighting the problems faced in temples for lack of proper administration, the petitioner had urged the High Court to monitor the preservation of temples by experts with modern equipment, sufficient number of workforce in the office of the Endowment Commissioner and supervision of all rituals performed in important temples of the state.