MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday granted two weeks time to the Palani Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple Devasthanam to implement a suggestion made by the court-appointed monitoring committee to increase the lightings and install CCTV cameras in the girivalam path of the temple.
Hearing a batch of petitions, including a contempt petition, seeking removal of encroachments in the said giriveedhi, a bench of justices D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar further directed the Principal Sub Judge of Palani to dispose of three civil suits pending before the sub court relating to the lands belonging to the aforesaid temple on or before July 31, 2024. They also directed the high court registry to henceforth list all pending and fresh petitions challenging the decisions of the above devasthanam, Palani municipality and revenue department in connection with the said girivalam path, to be heard along with the above contempt petition. The matter has been adjourned to March 21.
During the hearing, the standing counsel appearing for Palani municipality informed that based on the request made by the police, seven areas near the temple and its girivalam path are going to be declared as 'no parking areas' and necessary sign boards would be installed to ensure zero traffic hindrance in the said areas.
In view of the recent changes made in the traffic movement near the girivalam path, including the ban of private vehicles and installation of new checkposts, the municipality and the devasthanam are taking steps to identify lands to create new parking spaces around the temple. The decisions for the same would be finalised soon, they informed the court. Also, 60% of the 120 homeguards available with the Palani police are going to be temporarily deployed in the giriveedhi to monitor and prevent further encroachments in the path.