The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department to ensure that temple employees across Tamil Nadu are paid living wages, irrespective of the income generated by individual temples, as reported in The Hindu.
A Division Bench comprising Justices G.R. Swaminathan and P. Murugan observed that linking employees’ salaries to the income of the temples where they work had resulted in several staff members receiving extremely low wages. Temples with limited properties and insufficient revenue were unable to pay their employees adequately.
“Our conscience is shocked that thousands of temple staff are paid atrociously poor pay. The amount paid to them would be hardly sufficient to keep the body and soul together. We may remark that the lowest National Floor Level Minimum Wage is ₹176 per day. What is drawn by many temple staff in Tamil Nadu is lower than that,” the court observed.
The Bench held that linking an employee’s remuneration to the income of a religious institution violated their fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty. It said that ensuring suitable remuneration was the only way to address the situation.
The court directed the HR&CE Department to evolve a system on a case-by-case basis to ensure fair wages for temple employees and said that this was the department’s paramount responsibility.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the department’s inaction, the Bench remarked that it was unfortunate that officials had not taken steps to improve the pitiable conditions of temple staff.
The court also highlighted the need to explore technology and social media to mobilise public support for the cause, observing that there was something called ‘temple economics’.
The Bench expected the HR&CE Commissioner to take immediate steps to implement the directions.
“It is he who must bell the cat. When binding judicial direction was there to ensure payment of fair wage to the temple staff, the department and its officials cannot be permitted to keep quiet,” the court said.
The Commissioner has been granted two months to submit an action taken report before the court.
The directions were issued while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Periyanambi Narasimha Gopalan of Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli district. The petitioner had sought directions to ensure that archakas and other temple employees across Tamil Nadu were paid salaries in accordance with the Minimum Wages Act and on a par with government employees, irrespective of the income of individual temples.
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