MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday (August 10) directed the State Government to file a detailed status report on a petition seeking the removal of an EV Ramasamy (Periyar) statue installed in front of the Arulmigu Bramasirakandeeswarar Temple at Kandiyur in Thanjavur district.

The Division Bench comprising Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel issued the direction on a PIL filed by Rama Ravikumar of Madurai district, who alleged that the statue was installed by the Dravidar Kazhagam around 1990 without permission from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department.

He further alleged that the statue was installed within five feet of the temple premises and that the DK flag was also installed near the statue on land belonging to the temple.

The petitioner also stated that information he received under the Right to Information Act on June 2, 2026, revealed that the EV Ramasamy statue had been installed on temple land without obtaining permission from the HR&CE dept.

Subsequently, he submitted a representation to authorities seeking its removal.

The court directed the Principal Secretary, Department of Tourism, the HR&CE Commissioner, Collector, among others, to file the status report and posted next hearing for September.