CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has held that temple festivals conducted by the State through the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department cannot perpetuate caste, as the constitutional mandate is to ensure equality and work towards the annihilation of caste.
Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy observed that the very purpose of India becoming a Republic was to treat all citizens equally. Authorities, he said, must endeavour to dismantle caste practices and not promote them through State-run religious events.
The court said a festival conducted by the State cannot propagate caste by prominently advertising or taking pride in caste names in invitations. Caste, being birth-based, runs contrary to the equality principle enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution, the judge noted.
The observations were made while hearing a plea by N Samaran seeking directions to the HR&CE commissioner, the joint commissioner and the executive officer of Arulmigu Kandasamy Thirukovil in Thiruporur to prohibit the use of caste names in festival invitations and to permit only authorised Sri Padham Thangigal to carry the deity during the festival.
The State submitted that the temple administration had not used caste names in the official invitations, but individuals had printed caste names on invitations already circulated, making it impractical to make changes for the current year.
Recording the submission, the court directed that from the ensuing festival onwards, any caste suffix added to names in invitations must be dropped.