MADURAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Thanjavur District Collector to shift a statue of rational leader EV Ramasamy Periyar from a temple land to any other suitable place within four weeks and held that it had been installed there without obtaining permission from authorities.

A Division Bench of Justices P Velmurugan and KK Ramakrishnan, after hearing a writ petition, ordered the removal of the statue from the land of Arulmigu Brahmasirakandeeswarar Temple at Kandiyur, in Thiruvaiyaru taluk of Thanjavur District.

In his plea, petitioner Rama Ravikumar sought removal of the statue in the light of the recommendation of the Joint Commissioner, HR and CE Department, within a time frame fixed by the high court.

In its recent order, the court said the status report filed by the Thanjavur District Collector reveals that the statue was installed on the temple land and not on the government 'poramboke' land.

"Since the statue is installed in the temple land without obtaining permission either from the temple authority or from the District Collector or from any other competent authority, the 4th respondent/District Collector is directed to remove the said statue safely from the temple land and also place it in some other suitable place within a period of four weeks from today and file a report," the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court said in its order.

The court directed the registry to list the matter after four weeks for reporting compliance.

The statue of EV Ramasamy (1879-1973), respectfully addressed as 'Periyar', a reformist Dravidian leader and iconoclast, had been installed decades ago near the perimeter of the temple.