10.1.1 Temple income and how funds are used (Section 57)

Explained

Dharmadayam (S.56, Chapter VI).

• A dharmadayam is money collected from traders or the public for a religious or charitable purpose (a levy on goods sold, for instance).
• S.56(1): the person collecting it holds it as a trustee.
• S.56(2): accounts of each financial year's collection and spending go to the Commissioner before 15 May; the Commissioner may check them.
• S.56(3): the Commissioner may direct its use, but money collected for a particular religious purpose may be spent only on that purpose.
• S.56(5): not sending accounts even after the Commissioner fixes a time = fine up to ₹1,000.

Annual contribution and audit fee (S.65).

• S.65(1): every institution other than TTD pays a yearly contribution for the services of the Government and its employees in administering institutions. It applies only where annual income exceeds ₹50,000 (raised from ₹5,000 by Act 33 of 2007, which also dropped the old 15% ceiling).
• S.65(2): TTD's own rule (above). Before 2021 TTD paid a lump sum of ₹50 lakh.
• S.65(3): paid once a year into the Endowments Administration Fund.
• S.65(4): an extra 1½% of annual income as audit fee.
• S.65(5)(a): for a dharmadayam, annual income = the whole amount collected in the year.
• S.65(5)(b): for other income, these are deducted first: kist and cess paid to Government, local taxes and licence fees, direct cultivation costs (seed, manure, cattle, implements, wages; capped at 10% of that land's income), minor repairs of rented buildings (10% of the rent or actual cost, whichever is less), rent-collection staff (up to 10% of rents collected), and sale proceeds of immovable property reinvested.
• Not income (Explanation 1):
  • advances, deposits and loans;
  • security deposits of staff, tenants and contractors;
  • withdrawals from banks or investments;
  • amounts recovered under court decrees;
  • sale of religious books for propagation;
  • sale of jewels, vehicles or cattle;
  • capital donations;
  • voluntary contributions for a specific service, spent on it;
  • recoveries pointed out in audit.
• Seva ticket fees, hundi, rents are ordinary income.
• Explanations 2–4: a profit-making subsidiary counts only its net profit; grants, donations and student fees of non-profit schools, hospitals and orphanages are not income. Offerings in kind count at the sale proceeds on the date of sale; produce of the institution's land counts at market value on the day received.

Assessment and payment (Ss.66–68).

Fund for archakas' salaries (S.65-A). Inserted by Act 33 of 2007 (from 3-1-2008). A separate fund, vested in the Commissioner, pays the salaries and allowances of archakas, office-holders and staff in sanctioned posts. Each institution pays into it at a prescribed rate of its S.65 income.

Endowments Administration Fund (S.69).

• Credited (S.69(2)): balances due under the old 1966 Act; the S.65(1) contribution and audit fee; amounts recovered under S.30; grants or loans from Government or others.
• Paid out (S.69(3)): (i) salaries, allowances and pension of persons serving under the Act (departmental EOs), first paid by Government; (ii) Government's other costs of administering institutions; (iii) Government loans; (iv) journals, manuals, account forms and literature on Hindu religion; (v) costs of committees under the Act.
• S.70(2): what is left after S.69(3) payments may be transferred to the Common Good Fund on Government's order.

Common Good Fund (Ss.70–71).

• S.70(1)(a): the Commissioner constitutes two funds: one for Hindu charitable and religious institutions, one for other charitable institutions.
• Uses of the Hindu fund (S.70(1)(b)):

• The 25% and 20% are shares of the whole fund, not grants per temple.
• S.70(3): the Commissioner issues a demand notice to each institution on the basis of the CGF provision in its budget.
• S.57(2)(b): budgets of institutions with income above ₹50,000 must provide for the CGF "in the prescribed manner" (Act 33 of 2007 removed the fixed rate from the section).
• The 9% rate is not in the Act. A 2015 Government order raised the CGF share from 5% to 9% for 6(a) and 6(b) temples and exempted 6(c) temples.
• S.71: the fund vests in a Committee constituted by the Government.

Archakas and Other Employees Welfare Fund (S.161). Inserted by Act 33 of 2007, following Supreme Court directions. Every institution except TTD whose S.65 income reaches ₹25 lakh a year sets apart 3% of its income for the fund; TTD pays ₹5 crore a year (2021 amendment; earlier an amount fixed by Government). The fund is run as a registered trust for archakas' and employees' welfare (ex gratia, medical aid, loans, scholarships).

Surplus funds (S.72, Chapter IX). Only after S.57(2) allocations are met may the trustee apply for permission to spend a surplus on: propagation of the institution's tenets; schools for archakas, adhyapakas and Veda parayanikas; institutions and libraries for Hindu religion, philosophy, shastras and temple vastu; help to needy Hindu institutions; hospitals and dispensaries for pilgrims; choultries and rest houses; water and sanitation; buying land; roads and lighting; orphanages and homes for the poor and disabled; homes for leprosy patients; payment to the Common Good Fund. S.72(3): money may also be given for Hindu marriages of needy persons. A math may use surplus for purposes of its own tradition (S.72(2)).

Defunct institutions (Ss.73–74). The Commissioner, DC or AC traces the properties and funds of an institution that has ceased to function and uses them first to revive it, otherwise for the purpose nearest the founder's intention.