A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered notice returnable by April 21 to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department on a writ appeal preferred by Sri Ram Samaj, a registered society that runs the Ayodhya Aswametha Maha Mandapam at West Mambalam in Chennai, against the appointment of a ‘Thakkar’ (Fit Person) in 2013 to manage its affairs.
Justices M. Duraiswamy and T.V. Thamilselvi granted the time for the HR&CE Department to file its counter affidavit to the writ appeal. They also recorded the submission of Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram that, during the meantime, neither the functioning of Sri Sitaram Vidyalaya Matriculation School nor that of a marriage hall owned by the society would be interrupted in any way by the department.
Advocate A.K. Sriram, representing the Teynampet Balasubramaniaswamy Temple Executive Officer who had been appointed as the Fit Person of the Samaj, also assured the court that the pujas as well as other rituals and festivals would be conducted as usual. The assurances were given after senior counsel Satish Parasaran, representing the appellant samaj, insisted that its regular functioning should not be crippled.
