Report sought on discrimination in temple committee

Chennai: The Madras High Court has ordered the Palladam Tahsildar to respond to a case seeking the inclusion of all the communities in the Pongal Gundam festival of Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman temple in the Tiruppur district.

In his petition, Deivasigamani of V Kallipalayam, alleged that some communities have been excluded from the meetings held to discuss the Pongal Gundam festival. The festival is held once in 12 years in Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman temple at V Kallipalayam. He said that he gave a petition to the district administration to form a committee with representatives of all the communities to avoid conflict and said no action has been taken on his petition, he alleged.

Since no trustee has been appointed for the Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman, which comes under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, there is a need to monitor the grand temple festival by roping in all communities, the petitioner said. He further demanded that the current festival committee formed by the local villagers should be banned.

Hearing the plea, a division bench comprising Justice C V Karthikeyan and Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy ordered Palladam Tahsildar to investigate and submit a report. The court adjourned the case to May 24.