MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Thanjavur collector to consider a representation given by a man to declare a local holiday in Kumbakonam town on March 6, in view of the 'Masi Maham' festival, and to keep all TASMAC outlets in and around the town closed during the festival.
A Bench of justices D Krishnakumar and L Victoria Gowri directed the collector to take a decision on the matter before March 1. The order was passed on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by R Kannan of Kumbakonam.
Kannan stated in the petition that the 'Masi Maham' festival is a historic event, during which lakhs of people gather to take a holy dip in the 'Mahamaham' tank of Kumbakonam, which is considered the meeting point of nine holy rivers of India. Since a large number of people would be assembling for the festival, he sought the above directions, to avoid law and order problems.