The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday referred a case pertaining to the maintenance of the Subramaniyaswamy Temple at Tiruchendur in Thoothukudi district to a larger Bench for consideration.
A slew of directions were issued in 2018 by a Division Bench of the court and subsequently in 2022 a government order was issued based on the court direction. However, a petition was filed by ‘thirusuthanthirargal’ (freelance archakas) challenging the G.O..
A Division Bench of Justices Paresh Upadhyay and R. Vijayakumar directed the High Court Registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice for consideration. The contention of the freelance archakas was that they were not heard and directions were issued against them. They challenged the order issued by the Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Department with regard to the administration of the temple. They said that the order interfered with the religious practices adopted in the temple.
Under the guise of administration, the HR and CE Department was interfering in religious affairs, they said in their petition. The State had submitted that the G.O. was issued based on the 2018 order.
The judges observed that they would have proceeded to examine the sustainability of the G.O. on merits after taking into consideration relevant factors. However a question would crop up with regard to how the effect of the various directions issued by the Division Bench in 2018 should be weighed. The only course left was to refer the matter to a larger Bench to consider the matter, the judges said.
