After Justice SM Subramaniam, a Madras High Court judge, took note of the misappropriation and corruption at the Vadapalani Dhandayudhapani temple in Chennai when he visited the place, two employees of the temple were placed under suspension on Tuesday, December 20. Justice Subramaniam stated that he had visited the temple on Saturday with his family members without revealing his identity. He said that he paid Rs 150 for three special darshan tickets but he found that while two were Rs 50 tickets, the third one was a Rs 5 ticket.
The judge on Monday, December 19, told the Executive Officer of the temple and Special Government Pleader that when he pointed out the mistake, the temple staff behaved rudely with him and tried to push him out of the temple. He said that policemen who were on duty at the temple intervened and as they knew him, they took him away to safety. Justice Subramaniam asked, "If a person in a constitutional position was facing such bullying, what was in store for ordinary people?"
Following the complaint filed by the judge, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) department intervened in the issue and suspended two assistant-level officers of the temple. During the investigation of the HR&CE, the department found two staff, a man and a woman, guilty and put them under suspension. The woman was the one who had given the tickets and the man had taken the tickets and let the ticket holders inside the temple.
The HR&CE department said that the woman was at the counter only for three days as the regular person was on leave and the special darshan and archana tickets were of the same colour. The HR&CE officials have now said that a separate counter would be placed to avoid such confusion in the future.