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The Madras High Court, on Monday, directed the Tamil Nadu government to appoint temple archakas as per the Agama practice, reported The New Indian Express. The court has further asked the government to follow the judgments of Supreme Court in this regard.

High Court has further directed the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments department to find out which agama is practised in a particular temple and appoint archakas accordingly. 

A bench headed by Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari has told the petitioners to approach the court with individual petitions if they are aggrieved by a particular appointment.

According to TNIE, the petitioners in the plea include the All India Adi Saiva Sivacharyargal Seva Sangam. It is to be noted that the court has adjourned the pleas challenging the act pertaining to the appointment of Archakas.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed last year challenging the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious Institutions Employees (Conditions of Service) Rules, 2020 that have come into effect on September 4, 2020 

The principal grievance of the petitioner was that in Rule 2(1)(c) of the said Rules defining “Appointing Authority” and permitting a Fit Person as defined in the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 to act as an appointing authority, the Rules go against the grain of the parent statute of 1959 that requires only trustees to make such appointments.

It was also claimed that in Rule 2(1)(j) defining “Ulthurai (Indoor) Employee” and Annexure II to the Rules indicating how Agama teachers would be inducted into temples is an attempt to tinker with the Agama that is followed in a temple, which is otherwise judicially recognised to be sacrosanct.

Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram argued that, the Supreme Court, had upheld appointment of non-hereditary archakas without looking into caste or creed in the 1972. He further submitted that in 2015, the Supreme Court court upheld the appointment of non-hereditary archakas complying with the Agama practice of temples.

The bench, also consisting of Justice Mala, on hearing the submissions, disposed the batch of petitions challenging advertisements issued in July to appoint archakas to HR &CE temples and ordered that the apex court’s orders be strictly adhered to while making the appointments.