Shot in the arm for Sadhguru; Tamil Nadu govt to put data on temples it controls in public domain
Terming it a "historic step" in the right direction, Sadhguru congratulated the state government and its Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department for "taking a historic step in the right direction."
FollowIsha Foundation founder Jaggi Vasudev on Thursday hailed the Tamil Nadu government for its decision to digitalise records related to temple assets, administration and personnel, and put them in the public domain.
Terming it a "historic step" in the right direction, Sadhguru congratulated the state government and its Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department for "taking a historic step in the right direction."
Sadhguru said that transparency was the first step towards good governance.
The spiritual leader's remarks came after HR&CE Minister Sekar Babu directed officials to put in the public domain all information about temple assets, administration and other related work and activities.
The government decision follows remarks made by state Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan recently, where he dismissed as 'nonsense' demands made by Sadhguru to free temples from government control.
In an interview with The Hindu, Thiagarajan called Sadhguru, a publicity hound who is trying to find another angle to make more money. Calling him a random person making random noise, the minister claimed that such people who want to break the goodwill of society."
Sadhguru had launched the 'Free TN Temples' campaign earlier this year. Besides seeking the end of government control on temples, he had asked the state government to authorise third-party audits to determine the quality of temple management.
On May 1, the spiritual leader even moved the Madras High Court in this regard. In his petition, he sought an external audit of 44,000 plus temples under the HR&CE department to assess the condition of all their structures, associated lands and immovable assets, the status of occupation of the temple properties, the rents received, and the dues, among others.
