Madras High Court orders HR&CE to ensure a living wage for temple staff, delinking pay from each temple's income

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the HR&CE department to ensure a living wage for staff of temples under its control, The Hindu reported. A division bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan and P. Murugan noted that staff are paid from the income of their own temple.

Where a temple has few properties and little income, its staff are paid "a pittance", the bench said. "Our conscience is shocked that thousands of temple staff are paid atrociously poor pay," the court said.

It noted that the lowest National Floor Level Minimum Wage is ₹176 a day, and that many temple staff in Tamil Nadu draw less. Linking a person's pay to the income of the institution breached the right to life under Article 21, the court held.

It said a system had to be evolved case by case, and that this was the department's paramount duty. The bench said the department had so far done little to improve the condition of temple staff.

It suggested "temple economics" and technology, including social media, to mobilise support for the cause. The HR&CE Commissioner was given two months to file an action taken report.

The order came on a public interest petition by Periyanambi Narasimha Gopalan of Ambasamudram, Tirunelveli district. He sought pay for all archakas and temple employees under the Minimum Wages Act and on a par with government servants, regardless of temple income.