The Himachal Pradesh High Court has ruled that the offerings made by devotees at famous Chintpurni temple in Una district are for providing better facilities to the devotees and not for purchasing vehicles for officials.
The court restrained the temple officer and district administration of Una from using vehicles purchased from temple funds.
Temple officer Subhash Chand had told the court that five vehicles were purchased from the temple funds. He said that while one vehicle was with him, another was with the Deputy Commissioner, who is also the temple commissioner.
"The temple funds are strictly to be used for providing better facilities for the temple," Justice Rajiv Sharma said in his order handed out on Tuesday.
Justice Sharma said the officials under the Himachal Pradesh Hindu Public Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act of 1984 were the trustees of the offerings made by the devotees and as such these funds were only to be utilised for providing better facilities and for the upkeep of the temple.
"The temple funds cannot be diverted and permitted to be used for any other purpose and under the garb of management, the temple and its affairs cannot be run like a governmental office," Justice Sharma said.
The court directed the commissioner temple to take all necessary steps to acquire the land between Bus Stand and Temple for the purpose of construction of toilets under the Land Acquisition Act and if necessary by requisitioning the property.
"The notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act be issued and the entire process by completed within a period of six months from today," the court said.
The court directed Secretary, Language, Art and Culture to ensure that no vehicle purchased from the temple funds in Himachal Pradesh is used by the Commissioner (Temple), Temple Officer and other officers of the state.
He also directed the concerned officers to file supplementary affidavit of compliance stating therein why the legislation has been made for Hindu Shrines and religious endowments alone.
