Madurai, Sept 3:
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has said that temples are places where people seek peace and that allowing political considerations to enter places of worship is unacceptable.
The court made the observation while directing authorities to include the names of the Board of Trustees of the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple in an inscription to be installed after the upcoming Kumbabhishekam.
The Kumbabhishekam is scheduled for September 17.
Justice C Saravanan was hearing a petition filed by Subbulakshmi, a member of the temple’s Board of Trustees, challenging the omission of the trustees’ names from the Kumbabhishekam invitation.
During the hearing, the court was informed that the names of the trustees had been omitted from the invitation.
The Additional Advocate General told the court that the temple’s Executive Officer had apparently taken the decision to remove the trustees’ names on his own.
It was also submitted that Joint Commissioner Chelladurai had included his own name in the invitation, while the HR&CE Department Secretary and Commissioner had no role in the decision.
The court expressed concern over the issue.
The judge observed that a temple is a place where people come seeking peace and said political activity in a place of religious worship was not acceptable.
The court described the alleged involvement of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department in such a dispute as unfortunate.
The Board of Trustees’ counsel told the court that trustees’ names had been included in invitations for previous Kumbabhishekam ceremonies and argued that the established practice should continue.
The government, however, pointed out that around 3,000 invitations had already been printed and distributed, making it difficult to recall and reprint them.
While disposing of the petition, the court directed the authorities to ensure that the names of the trustees were included in the inscription to be installed at the temple after the Kumbabhishekam.
The court also directed the government to ensure that politics did not enter places of religious worship in future and that temples functioned strictly in accordance with applicable rules.
The order comes against the backdrop of heightened attention on the administration and management of major temples under the HR&CE Department.