The Madras High Court bench here on Wednesday ordered notice to the Tuticorin Collector and the executive officer of Sri Subramaniyaswamy temple, Tiruchendur, on a public interest litigation seeking to restrain the temple administration from releasing the sewage from the temple’s cottages into the sea near the temple.
The petitioner, Manalmedu M. Suresh, a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam functionary, claimed in his petition the temple administration owned several cottages and canteens on the temple premises.
The cottages and the canteens did not have septic tanks and the untreated sewage from these buildings was being let into the sea, at a spot behind the Valli Cave, he alleged.
Thousands of devotees took their “holy dip” in the sea every day and the discharge of sewage into the sea would affect their health, he argued.
The petitioner claimed that he had submitted representations on January 7, 2013 and September 2, 2013 to the district collector, executive officer of the temple and the pollution control board calling for the construction of septic tanks for the canteens and cottages managed by the temple.
He moved the court claiming that the officials did not consider his representations. A division bench comprising Justices M. Jaichandren and M. Venugopal ordered notice to the officials and adjourned the case by two weeks.
