Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin is slated to chair a meeting today to decide the possibility of permitting temples in the State to allow devotees on Friday in view of Vijayadasami.
A submission in this regard was made by Advocate General R Shunmugasundaram before the Madras High Court.
He said the State had ordered closure of major temples, which attract high footfall, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays owing to an advisory issued by the Centre to avoid mass gatherings due to Covid-19.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday ruled that it is up to the Tamilnadu government to decide whether or not to open the temples in the State on the day of Vijayadashami.
A special bench comprising judges R Mahadevan and Abdul Quddhose on hearing a petition by R Ponnusamy, a resident from Coimbatore, who sought directions to open the temples on Vijayadashami, held that the State government has to take a call on the matter.
‘The decision of the State government closing temples during this Navrathiri festival season has encroached the fundamental right to practise, profess and propagate guaranteed under the Article 25 of the constitution,’ Ponnusamy said in his plea.
It may be noted that the government has banned entry of devotees into places of worship on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.