MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday sought reply from the HR and CE department on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition which requested the court not to permit the conduct of consecration ceremony at Kasi Viswanathar temple in Tenkasi, which is scheduled to take place on April 7, till the renovation works are completed.
The petitioner, M Nambirajan, stated that the above temple was built in the middle of the 14th century by Pandyan King Parakirama Pandian. It comes under the supervision of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Ahead of the upcoming consecration ceremony, the temple authorities are carrying out renovation works but there have been several complaints that the authorities have misappropriated funds allotted for the renovation work, Nambirajan claimed.
Further, the works are being carried out in a hurried manner without adopting safety measures to protect the monuments. The allegations were also confirmed by the assistant commissioner of HR and CE, Tenkasi, who had conducted a detailed inquiry into the complaints in February. The consecration ceremony should be postponed till the defects identified by the said official are rectified, Nambirajan said.
A bench comprising justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy sought reply from the authorities concerned and adjourned the case to Thursday.