Notice to Collector on plea to include Adi Dravidas in jallikattu panel

A petition filed by Santhanam of Palamedu came up for hearing before a division bench of Justice Duraisamy and Justice Ravindran. The petitioner sought inclusion of people hailing from the Adi Dravida community in the jallikattu organising committee ahead of the scheduled event.

The town panchayat of Palamedu comprises a total of 15 wards and it has a population of over 15,000 people. Among the total population, nearly 1,000 people from the Adi Dravida community had been residing at Palamedu.

With days drawing close to the scheduled event of jallikattu at Palamedu, people from this community had not been provided with opportunity to join the organising committee. But, the committee collected donations from people of this community. Further, the petitioner stated that some of them from the community had been raising 10 bulls in parts of Palamedu and taking part in jallikattu for several years now. While crores of money had been collected as donations to offer prizes to those who excelled in the sport, the committee has not properly maintained accounts. Despite making representations several times for the inclusion of people from the Adi Dravida community in the jallikattu organising committee, no action had been taken and their demands remain ignored.

Hence, the petitioner sought the intervention of the court to direct the committee to include people from the Adi Dravida community. On hearing, the bench directed the Madurai Collector and the Department of Police to ensure smooth conduct of jallikattu in Palamedu. Further, the bench adjourned the case by four weeks.

Meanwhile, Ramasamy of Avaniyapuram moved the High Court on Tuesday and appeared before the bench and placed his demand seeking permission to form a committee by local people of Avaniyapuram.

Ramasamy stated that a particular person had been holding a leadership position in the jallikattu organising committee for a long period now in Avaniyapuram and moreover, there were lots of irregularities in the conduct of jallikattu. Citing these, Ramasamy sought the bench, seeking its direction to permit common people of Avaniyapuram to form a committee ahead of the scheduled January 16 jallikattu. However, the bench advised him to file a petition for prosecution.