Plea against Executive Officer appointments dismissed

Holding that the petitioner had no locus to file the plea against appointment of executive officers (EOs) for State-run temples, the Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a writ petition challenging the appointments.

The plea alleged that the HR&CE Department appointed EOs without any legal sanctions or valid appointment order. Noting that EOs appointed in 2015 were continuing in the post even now, it also added that these officials could not appoint for an indefinite period. “The government can only regulate the secular aspects of the administration… [and] not interfere with the powers of the trustees,” the petitioner argued.

However, the first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy rejected all the contentions raised in the plea. Justice Bhandari also wondered how a PIL could be filed on service-related matters and dismissed the plea.