Confirming the organising committee constituted by the Madurai Collector for the Avaniapuram jallikattu in Madurai scheduled for January 15, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court directed the Collector to constitute the advisory committee by following its directions issued in 2020.
A Division Bench of Justices D. Krishnakumar and R. Vijayakumar directed inclusion of local residents in the advisory committee as per the earlier order. While the organising committee included mainly officials, the advisory committee included the residents.
The court also made it clear that the advisory committee members were not entitled to collect any donations or seek sponsorship from the public. If there were any complaints of irregularities or violations of guidelines or rules, the organising committee should take stern action in accordance with law.
The court observed that this arrangement should continue till a consensus was reached between the parties or till the disposal of the civil suit pending between the parties on the file of the First Additional District Court in Madurai. With these directions, the court disposed of the batch of petitions that sought a direction to the authorities to include representatives from all communities for organising jallikattu in Avaniapuram.
