Madras HC asks TN govt to include UNESCO in temple restoration projects

The Madras High Court has asked UNESCO to be part of restoration projects of Tamil Nadu temples. The court has asked the state government to include UNESCO and requested their presence in the court by August 23.

The High Court clarified saying that the government should only do anything on the monuments if it thought that the delay will lead to its collapse. The Times of India reported that the court wants the Tamil Nadu government and its officials to have access to UNESCO’s expertise in preserving ancient monuments.

This came into light on July 5, 2015 when the bench took suo motu notice of the temple heritage issue. Srikumar, a resident had impleaded himself as a party in the case and the court made advocate PS Raman as amicus curiae to help the court in this issue. Later, on November 30, 2015, the court asked the state authorities to slow down on renovation work. On July 5, 2016, the High Court said, “In our view there can be no doubt about what is meant by the expression. This is a reference to works which cannot brook any delay, as the structure itself may collapse in the meantime,“ reported Times of India.

However, after many cases of idol theft in the state, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endownments (HR & CE) department will be digitising bronze and stone idols in 38,000 temples in Tamil Nadu.  The department has created a database which includes the pictures of idols in all 38000 temples with the complete description including name, age, period of make etc., reported by Times of India.

The data collection process began two years ago but the department has speeded up the work and will finish it in next few months.