New Delhi/Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has clearly stated in the Supreme Court that the demand to bring the Thirupparankundram temple and hill under the control of the Archaeological Department should be rejected.
The single judge of the Madurai Bench of the Chennai High Court, G.R. Swaminathan, had ordered that permission be granted to light a lamp every year on Karthigai Deepam festival day at the lamp pillar on the hilltop belonging to the Thiruparankundram Murugan Temple. He had also ordered that the temple administration should light the lamp with the permission of the Archaeology Department. The order issued by the single judge was also upheld by a bench of the Madurai Bench of the Chennai High Court.
Against this order, appeals were filed in the Supreme Court by the temple administration, the Tamil Nadu government, the dargah administration, and also by Ram Ravikumar, who challenged the refusal to allow the public to light lamps. As a result, the hearing on those petitions is still pending.
At the same time, in the writ petition filed by K.K. Ramesh, the administrator of an organization called Hindu Dharma Parishad, he had sought that the Thiruparankundram temple and the surrounding hill area be brought under the control of the Archaeology Department, that a lamp be lit on the stone pillar inside the temple 24 hours a day, and that lamps be lit all around the hill during the Karthigai festival. While hearing that petition, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government to respond.
Accordingly, the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, T.G. Vinay, states as follows:
In the case filed regarding the ownership of the Thirupparankundram temple and the entire hill, it has been clearly confirmed and legally established, as per the judgment delivered in 1923, that the entire hill belongs to the temple.
Furthermore, the boundaries relating to certain specific areas on the hill and the Nelliththoppu have been properly measured and defined through legal proceedings. For more than 150 years, in accordance with Agama rules and temple traditions, the Karthigai Deepam has been lit only at the Deepa Mandapam near the temple area.
Moreover, in accordance with the order issued by the Chennai High Court in 1996, it has been clarified that only the temple devasthanam should light the lamp at the traditional site, and that lighting lamps independently anywhere else is prohibited.
Therefore, the state police and the district administration alone are acting with full responsibility to protect the atmosphere of religious harmony prevailing in the Thirupparankundram hill area and the surrounding places, and to prevent any kind of communal conflict from arising and safeguard public peace.
The demand to transfer the temple and the entire hill to the control of the Archaeological Survey of India is completely illegal.
On behalf of the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, it was argued before the Supreme Court that all rights to perform pujas, rituals, and light lamps at the Thiruparankundram temple belong to the temple administration; therefore, the petitioner’s claims should be rejected and the petition dismissed with costs.
