Justice G.R. Swaminathan of the Madras High Court on Sunday heard an urgent case through WhatsApp video call from Nagercoil, since the hereditary trustee of the Abheeshta Varadarajaswamy temple at Papparapatti Agraharam in Pennagaram Taluk of Dharmapuri district feared his village “might earn the divine wrath” if the temple car festival was not held, as planned, on Monday.
In the prologue to his order in favour of the temple, the judge wrote, “Our village will face divine wrath if the proposed Rath (temple car) festival is not held tomorrow– This fervent prayer of the writ petitioner made the court hold the sitting from Nagercoil (where the judge had been to attend a marriage ceremony) and conduct the case through WhatsApp.”
While the judge heard the case from Nagercoil, Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram and petitioner’s counsel V. Raghavachari argued the matter from their offices in Chennai. In the writ petition, filed through his counsel on record K. Sureshbabu, the hereditary trustee P.R. Srinivasan had challenged a ban order passed by an Inspector of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department on Friday.
