Taking serious view of demolition of a nearly 400-year-old temple, the Madras high court has directed the consultant Archaeologist/Conservationist K T Narasimhan to appear in person before the court.
The First Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana hearing a PIL filed by one Rangarajan Narasimhan in their order said it was a matter of great concern that a 400-year-old has been demolished on an opinion of a Consultant/Archaeologist/Conservationist, on the basis of the information gathered by him that the temple is the root cause of some "inauspicious incidents".
The petitioner in his petition while mentioning about four old temples of Namakkal, Tiruppur and Erode districts submitted that out of the these temples three were demolished on a report filed by the conservationist who in the case of a temple said that unless the existing temple is demolished the inauspicious incidents in the village will not come to an end.
Likewise, the demolition was recommended in another case that the temple was not as per "Dravida Style" and in another case it was alleged by the petitioner that on the basis of the pronouncement of a Kerala Witchcraft specialist demolition was recommended.
Alleging that the three temples which were demolished have rich archaeological importance and the rock pillars which were in existence for more than 100 years were brought down the petitioner sought a direction from the Court to remove the conservationist appointed by the Department and sought for an interim injunction restraining the HR&CE department from continuing any renovation work of the temples in Tamil Nadu.
The bench ordered issue of notice to the HR&CE department and directed the consultant to remain present in the court and posted the matter for further hearing along with the Suo Motu proceedings which are scheduled to come for hearing on November 30.
