MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the State Religious Endowments department, among others, on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea seeking constitution of a religious committee to ensure that pujas are conducted daily as per agamas in the Tiruchy Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam.
The litigant, Rangarajan Narasimhan of Tiruchy, stated that as per agamas, pujas should be performed in the temple six times a day and during festivals, it should be done five times a day. But, in the garb of accommodating devotees, puja timings are reduced and darshan timings are increased by the archakas, based on the instructions of the HR and CE department for generating more income for the temple. Many of the archakas are ineligible persons and both the archakas and the government are treating the temple as a commercial establishment, he alleged.
Calling it a blasphemy, Rangarajan requested the court to direct the HR and CE department not to interfere with the religious affairs of the temple. He also sought the formation of a religious committee to govern the religious affairs of the temple. A Bench comprising Justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad issued notice to authorities concerned and adjourned the case for a week