'Chidambaram temple is a public temple & not private property'

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has submitted before the Madras High Court that the jurisdiction of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment (HR&CE) over the Chidambaram Sabanayagar temple has been declared a public temple by various courts as per Section 1 of the Tamil Nadu HR &CE Act, 1959, the state submitted in its affidavit.

The land in which the temple is situated is also classified as Poramboke, which is not given to Diskshitars, and they have not endowed any property of the temple.

It is further stated that the temple was established by erstwhile kings and maintained from the contribution received from the public, but the Dikshitars claim it as their property, which is a disobedience of the court orders, read the affidavit by the state.

The Commissioner of HR&CE, K V Muralidharan, filed an affidavit in the Madras High Court (MHC) stating that the Dikshitars community are religious denomination and entitled to participate in the administration of the temple, at the same time they did not rule out the jurisdiction of HR&CE over the temple.

All the devotees were permitted to have darshan from the Kanagasabai, before the Covid 19 restriction. Hence the government has issued an order in 2022 permitting devotees to have darshan from the Kanagasabai. As per section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Temple Entry Authorisation Act 1947, every Hindu irrespective of caste or sect is entitled to enter any Hindu temple and worship, said the affidavit, adding that the Dikshitars are claiming it as their private property by disobeying lawful orders.

Petitioner T R Ramesh moved the MHC challenging the government order permitting all the devotees to have darshan from Kanagasabai Mandapam in Natarajar temple, Chidambaram.