The Madras High Court on Monday said that the Forest department and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department officials can take a call on permitting motor vehicles inside the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) for the devotees of Aadhi Karuvannarayar Bomma Deviyar temple to attend the three-day ‘Maasi Magam’ festival between February 23 and 25.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the interim order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by T. Santhosh against the government officials’ decision to permit only 100 vehicles per day for the festival. The petitioner had contended that all others could not be expected to walk 20 km into the forest.
