Madurai: The High Court has ordered that the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department in Tamil Nadu must ensure that temple employees are paid sufficient wages to lead a dignified life.
Periyanambi Narasimha Gopalan from Ambai in Nellai district filed a petition in the Madurai Bench of the High Court seeking an order directing the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department to increase the wages of temple employees. After hearing the petition, the bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and P. Murugan issued the following order:
Temples are classified based on their income. Executive officers such as Joint Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Assistant Commissioners, or officers of the first grade are appointed to temples. They are treated as government employees and are paid salaries. However, temple staff are paid from the temple’s own income.
Temple staff are of two types: internal staff (in-house employees) and external staff (outdoor employees). Employees working in temples that do not have sufficient assets or cannot generate adequate income receive very low wages.
In some temples, the monthly salary of the cook is only Rs. 400. From this, one can easily understand how low the wages of other employees, such as sanitation workers and gardeners, must be.
The case related to this was taken up suo motu in 2021 by a High Court bench headed by Justice R. Mahadevan, which ordered that the salaries and other service-related and retirement benefits of all employees working in temples, including priests and Oduvars, should be fixed in accordance with the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act and on par with government employees. This order has not been implemented to date. Nor has any stay been obtained against that order.
When a court order is in force, it is the duty of the authorities to implement it. Even then, a new case can be filed regarding the same demand. The very low, meager wages paid to thousands of temple workers shake our conscience.
Teams can be formed to increase revenue for each temple. There are many renowned entrepreneurs. For example, one can mention Sridhar Vembu of Zoho. The success journey of the son of a court employee is an inspiring story. By including such people, suitable revenue models for temples can be created.
Social media can be used effectively to gather support for this noble cause. The Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department may take action in this regard. When there is a mandatory court order that temple employees must be paid fair wages, it is not right to fail to implement it. The court order must be enforced.
Every employee working in public temples under the jurisdiction of the Endowments Department must be ensured wages sufficient to live a dignified life. The Commissioner of the Endowments Department must file a report within 2 months on the actions taken in this regard. The judges have stated this in their order.