MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Joint Commissioner of the HR&CE Department, Tiruchy, to call upon the Sthalattars (administrators) of the Sriranganarayana Jeeyar Mutt of the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam to initiate the process to fill the vacancy of the Jeeyar (seer).
A division bench of Justices G R Swaminathan and P Murugan issued directions while hearing a plea filed by S Veeraraghavan of Tiruchy. Sthalattars need to request eligible and suitable persons to come forward to adorn the peetham (spiritual seat), the bench ordered.
“The outer time limit to conclude the process is six months. If the Sthalattars fail to discharge the duty cast on them, the Court will not hesitate to step in to exercise the parens patriae jurisdiction,” the judges added.
[Parens patriae (Latin for “parent of the country”) is an inherent legal power that allows the State and its constitutional courts to act as a guardian for individuals who are legally or physically incapable of caring for themselves.]
The vacancy arose after the 50th Jeeyar of the mutt passed away in 2018, and he did not nominate his successor during his lifetime. The Jeeyar has been part of the temple administration and has been vested with certain functions and powers, apart from discharging his spiritual functions.
The court noted that when the mutt head passes away without nominating his successor, the vacancy is to be filled in accordance with the customs of the particular institution. As per the customs, the successor must be chosen by the Sthalattars and Bhattars (hereditary priests) of the temple either unanimously or by a majority.
In this case, when the Sthalattars did not extend their cooperation, the jurisdictional Joint Commissioner of HR&CE department ought to have nudged them into selecting the suitable successor; instead of that the department had called for applications in 2021, but no consequential steps were taken even though there was response from duly qualified persons.
The 50th Jeeyar, the previous one, was appointed by the then-EO/DC of the temple in 1989. The Court refused to permit that this time by pointing out that the selection of a Pontiff is a religious function and can never be construed as a secular or administrative act.
The department can formally acknowledge the choice of the Sthalattars as the mutt head cannot be considered an employee of the temple, it stated.