HC seeks TN’s guarantee for temple funds invested in TNPFC

Chennai: Will the state govt give sovereign guarantee to temple funds invested by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) dept in the Tamil Nadu Power Finance Corporation (TNPFC), Madras high court asked on Wednesday.A vacation bench comprising Justice G R Swaminathan and Justice V Lakshminarayanan raised the query when a public interest writ petition seeking to quash the amendment of statutory rules of HR&CE Act to permit deposit of temple funds in the state-owned non-banking finance corporations such as TNPFC came up for hearing on Wednesday. The PIL was filed by TR Ramesh.In response, advocate-general Vijay Narayan submitted that the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation and transport corporations are backed by the state govt and the latter will not let go of their financial health.Senior counsel S Ravi, representing the petitioner, questioned how temple funds to the tune of Rs 2,700 crore could be allowed to be invested in TNPFC, which lends 90% of its loan to debt-ridden power utilities like TNPDCL.When the advocate-general submitted that there has not been a single occurrence of default of interests by the power discom, the judges asked if the state govt will give the sovereign guarantee to the temple funds invested in TNPFC. To this, the govt sought time to file detailed counter-affidavits. The case was adjourned to Friday for further hearing.