MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday directed the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department to file counter counter-affidavit on a PIL seeking direction to streamline darshan and other facilities in Tiruchendur Subramaniya Swamy temple.
The litigant, B Rajesh, an advocate from Chennai, stated in the petition that, due to improper crowd management, devotees visiting the above temple are forced to wait 5 to 7 hours in a queue for darshan. The arrangements made for the smooth darshan of senior citizens and persons with disabilities (PwD) are also inadequate. Parents who come with infants are also put to untold hardships due to poor services, he alleged, and basic facilities like drinking water, toilets, and resting areas are also insufficient.
To alleviate these problems, devotees submitted a representation to the temple authorities on August 7, suggesting several measures, such as an online darshan booking system, exclusive access for senior citizens and PwD, and a colour-coded darshan token system for different types of darshan, among others. However, there has been no proper action on the same, he claimed, and sought the court's intervention.
Hearing the case on Friday, the counsel representing the HR&CE department stated that several measures have been undertaken to regulate darshan and other services. Hearing this, a bench of justices, Anita Sumanth and C Kumarappan, directed the department to file a counter affidavit and adjourned the case to December 9.