MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Sthalattars of the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam to initiate the process of selecting a successor to the head of the Sri Ranganarayana Jeeyar Mutt, following an assurance from the State that the process would be completed within six months.

A Division Bench comprising Justices GR Swaminathan and P Murugan also made it clear that the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has no role in appointing the pontiff, whose selection must follow the mutt’s established customs and traditions.

During the hearing, the Additional Advocate General assured the Court that the department would resume the process and conclude it within six months. The judges, however, said they were shocked to find that the 50th Jeeyar, who headed the mutt from 1989 to 2018, had been appointed by the Deputy Commissioner of the department, which was not permissible, because the selection of a pontiff is a purely religious function and can never be construed as a secular administrative act. “In the very nature of things,” the department cannot claim the right to appoint or even to approve such an appointment.

The Court accordingly directed the Joint Commissioner, HR&CE Department, Tiruchy, to call upon the Sthalattars to convene a meeting at the earliest. The Sthalattars are to invite eligible and suitable persons to come forward to adorn the Peetham.

“We make it clear that if the Sthalattars fail to discharge this duty cast on them, we will not hesitate to step in, in exercise of our parens patriae jurisdiction. We may call upon a kindred institution to carry out this exercise. We have in mind certain eminent Vaishnavite Saints,” the Bench observed.

The Court passed the order on a petition filed by S Veeraraghavan of Srirangam, who sought a direction to fill the vacancy in the Peetham of the Sri Ranganarayana Jeeyar Mutt so that the services required in the temple could be rendered by the new incumbent.

The Bench observed that the 50th Jeeyar of the mutt ascended the Peetham in 1989 and passed away in 2018 without nominating a successor. However, the post has remained vacant, which has affected the devotees, because neither the Sthalattars cooperate with the HR&CE Department nor has the department taken concrete steps to fill the vacancy after it invited applications in 2021, the judges said.