MADURAI: Setting aside the cancellation of the administrative sanction granted to some persons for carrying out donor works (Thirupani) and performing a consecration ceremony in an ancient Ramar temple at Kalpadi village in Kanniyakumari, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently ordered that the consecration should be completed within three months.
Justice GR Swaminathan passed the order on a batch of petitions filed by members of Kalpadi Ramar Thirukovil Munnetra Sangam against the cancellation order passed by the HR&CE department on October 31, 2025.The judge noted the authorities had cancelled the sanction and technical approval granted to the petitioners without putting the petitioners on notice.
While the judge accepted the reason cited by the authorities that the petitioners had collected funds in the name of the temple, though such collection is illegal, he observed that the petitioners were forced to do so due to the inaction of the authorities in maintaining the temple.
The HR&CE department had taken over the temple in 1990 and started taking steps to conduct consecration in 2008. Though they performed Balalayam in 2009, the temple remains closed and dilapidated to date without any renovation works or consecration, forcing locals to form an association and take initiative, the judge observed. He also criticised the authorities for passing the cancellation order even though a petition over the delay in issuing work orders was still pending. The authorities should have either brought the issue of fund collection to the court's notice or waited for the outcome of the said petition, he added.
Citing violation of principles of natural justice in the cancellation and the overall inaction of the authorities in the matter, the judge set aside the cancellation order but added that the funds collected by the petitioners should be transferred to the temple's account.