Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice R. Poornima Form board of trustees for Tiruchendur temple in four months: HC
Form board of trustees for Tiruchendur temple in four months: HC
Court directs the Secretary of HR&CE Department to ensure that all steps required, including invitation of application, scrutiny and communication at different levels, are taken stage-wise in a time-bound manner

The Madras High Court said non-adherence to the time schedule in implementing court directions should be treated as violation of the court order and appropriate action should be taken against the officials.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the State Government to expedite the constitution of Board of Trustees for Subramaniya Swamy Temple in Tiruchendur and complete the exercise in four months.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice R. Poornima directed the Secretary of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department to ensure that all steps required, including invitation of application, scrutiny and communication at different levels, were taken stage-wise in a time-bound manner.
Non-adherence to the time schedule should be treated as violation of the court order and appropriate action should be taken against the officials, the court observed and disposed of the petition.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by S.M.A. Gandhimathi Nathan of Thoothukudi district, who sought a direction to the authorities to constitute the Board of Trustees as mandated under the provisions of the HR&CE Act, 1959.
The petitioner said the temple affairs were managed by the Fit Person for more than a year, though such appointment was made only as a stopgap arrangement.
Meanwhile, Justice G.R. Swaminathan, hearing a separate case pertaining to the resolution of dispute between the Bhattars and the Thirisuthathindirars at the temple, observed that the dispute had given rise to quite a few issues affecting the interest of the devotees. The judge sought response from the temple management to a set of queries.
The court sought to know whether queue could be formed with an arrangement of an iron bridge inside the temple as done in to Guruvayur and Tirupati temples in order to have a Praharam clockwise, whether on account of VIP darshan the devotees had to wait in the queue and whether the temple management intended to earmark an exclusive period for VIP darshan.
The court also sought to know whether middle men were allowed to take the devotees directly for darshan and what steps were proposed by the temple management to prevent it, whether the temple management had thought of evolving a suitable crowd and queue management so as to ensure that the waiting time for the general devotees was minimal.
Further, the court sought to know whether the temple management proposes to instruct ‘Prasadham’, including ‘Viboothi’, given in leaf was distributed in such a manner that the movement of the queue was not stalled, whether there was any proposal to issue identity cards to persons associated with the functioning of the temple, whether there was any proposal to ensure that when such persons do not have their turns, they were not allowed to take devotees by bypassing the queue and whether sufficient toilet facilities were available in the vicinity. The court posted the matter for hearing to October 24.
