CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu must have an institutional mechanism for synchronising the agama shastra with international conservation standards in order to preserve the scores of ancient temples in the state, Unesco has told the Madras high court.

The suggestion came when the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R Mahadevan took up for further hearing a batch of PILs that expressed concern at faulty 'renovation' undertaken by authorities at various temples across the state. In order to prevent irretrievable loss of heritage structures or damage to them, the bench has already appointed senior counsel P S Raman as amicus curiae, and also banned renovation work in all temples in the state, unless it is extremely necessary to save the temple structure.

On Tuesday, it went through an affidavit filed by Unesco advising the Tamil Nadu government to review its current conservation procedures. Unesco said it had written to the state government, asking it to reconcile the principles of agama shastra and international conservation standards, thereby developing clear guidelines for conservation practitioners, and preparing a graded inventory of temples on the basis of their heritage values.

Calling for a comprehensive conservation and management plan for key heritage temples, Unesco wanted the government to set up a fact-finding mission comprising conservation experts and stakeholders to identify issues in conservation practice through case studies.

Unesco also expressed its willingness to work with the department and coordinate such activities, provided expenses for work and fee for experts are met by the government.

Referring to the tentative grant of World Heritage Status for Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam and Chettinad Village Clusters in April 2014, Unesco said inclusion in the list relied not only on its outstanding universal value, but increasingly on the "availability of institutional and legal framework to ensure the conservation of the site as per international norms."

Citing this, the first bench said: "Thus the future inclusion in the final list of the World Heritage List itself requires some necessary action. In that context, it has been observed that Review of the current standards and procedure for the conservation not only of temples but also heritage in general will, therefore, be the first step."

The judges directed the HR&CE department to consider the suggestions of Unesco, hold discussions and thereafter, file a status report in the court explaining the progress made and the time schedule required to complete the work.

The bench also took note of reports by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the amicus curiae on encroachment and parking menace in in Mamallapuram, blocking the monument's view, and directed the Kancheepuram district collector to file a compliance report after addressing the complaints.