Tantri does not have ownership of assets belonging to deity, says Kerala HC

KOCHI Although the Tantri may exercise authority over the religious and ritual aspects of temple administration, such authority cannot be extended to confer ownership over, or a right to appropriate or dispose of the assets belonging to the deity, the Kerala High Court has held. The authority to perform and supervise religious ceremonies must be distinguished from the right to own or deal with the property of the deity.

The latter is governed by the applicable statutory and administrative framework, under which the properties and valuables belonging to the deity are required to be duly accounted for, preserved and maintained as Devaswom assets, said a Division Bench of Justices K.V. Jayakumar and Raja Vijayaraghavan. V. The performance of religious discharge of responsibilities connected with the management of the deity’s property cannot, by itself, confer any proprietary interest in such property.

The question is whether a customary or ritual entitlement of the Tantri under the Thantra Samuchayam can be construed as conferring ownership over property belonging to the deity. Equally entitled Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion. It provides that, subject to public order, morality, health and the other provisions of Part III of the Constitution, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion.

At the same time, Article 25(2)(a) expressly provides that nothing in the Article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice. Thus, the constitutional scheme does not extinguish or disregard religious customs and practices.

It recognises and protects religious freedom while making it clear that secular activities associated with religious practice, including the administration and management of religious property, remain subject to constitutional and statutory regulation. With the advent of the constitutional framework and the enactment of laws governing the administration of Devaswoms, the position of temple functionaries has increasingly been brought within an organised administrative structure.

The religious authority to prescribe or supervise a ritual procedure cannot be equated with a legal right to appropriate the property of the deity, the court said while hearing a petition by the chairman and vice-chairman of the Akhila Tantri Pracharak Sabha. The petitioners had challenged a circular issued in 2012 by the Travancore Devaswom Board and said that they held the right to the ‘Vahanam’ of the deity removed from the top of old flag masts.

This custom is protected under law and the Constitution based on ‘Thantra Samuchayam’, they contended. The HC observed that the circular under challenge was issued in the year 2012, and for the last fourteen years the guidelines in the circular are being followed in its letter and spirit. The petitioner has not made out any good grounds for interfering with the circular, it held and dismissed their plea.