The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the State to file a report on a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to the authorities not to drain water from Mahamaham tank situated near Kasi Viswanathar Temple in Kumbakonam.
A Division Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and P. Velmurugan sought the State’s response on the petition filed by R. Kannan of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha from Thanjavur district, and adjourned the case by a week.
The petitioner said devotees visited the temple and took a holy dip in the tank, which got water from Arasalar river, in the Tamil month of Masi. Mahamaham Kumbha Mela was held once in 12 years.
In 2021, without getting any opinion from the public, the authorities drained water from the tank against the custom. Objections were raised against that and the authorities were asked not to repeat the mistake in the future, he said.
This year too the authorities had planned to drain water from the tank, the petitioner said. The authorities submitted that the water was drained from the tank considering the safety of devotees.
