The Madras High Court has quashed five government orders permitting the use of temple funds for constructing marriage halls, delivering a strong rebuke to the Tamil Nadu government’s plan.

The court held that such utilisation was “outside the scope of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Act, 1959” and amounted to a “misdirection of devotees’ contributions.” A division bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and G. Arul Murugan emphasised that “temple funds cannot be treated as public funds or government funds,” as the money “legally belongs to the deity, who is considered a minor in law,” and the court has a “parens patriae duty to safeguard it.”

Rejecting the government’s claim that marriage is a religious activity justifying the construction of halls, the bench said: “Marriage, though a sacred union, could not by itself be considered a religious purpose under the law.” It further noted the “element of charity was absent since the halls were meant to be rented out for a fee.”

The court also criticised the government for bypassing statutory safeguards under the Utilisation of Surplus Funds Rules, 1960, which require “a transparent process involving proposals, public objections, inquiries, and strict limits on how much surplus can be diverted.”

Citing previous Supreme Court rulings, including a 2025 decision forbidding temple funds’ use for shopping complexes, the bench reiterated that commercial activities “lie outside the scope of ‘religious purposes’ under the Act.”

Declaring the government orders “illegal and unconstitutional,” the Madras High Court quashed all five orders and directed that any misuse of temple resources “must be recovered from responsible officials.”