Religion, property rights, public order: Why Vijay govt is taking Karthigai Deepam row to Supreme Court docket | India Information
5 min learnChennaiJun 24, 2026 06:00 AM IST
The Tamil Nadu authorities, led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, has approached the Supreme Court docket difficult a Madras Excessive Court docket judgment that allowed the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam at a stone pillar referred to as the Deepathoon atop Thirupparankundram Hill, close to the Sikandar Badusha Dargah.
The attraction marks the newest chapter in a dispute that has moved from a neighborhood non secular controversy into a chronic authorized battle involving questions of religion, property rights, public order and the function of courts in regulating non secular practices on one in every of Tamil Nadu’s most symbolically charged hills.
In response to courtroom data, the state filed its petition earlier than the Supreme Court docket on June 11 via its counsel, B Karunakaran, difficult a January 6 judgment of the Madurai Bench of the Madras Excessive Court docket. That judgment had upheld an earlier order handed on December 1, 2025, by Justice G R Swaminathan directing the Subramaniya Swamy Temple administration to mild the ceremonial lamp on the Deepathoon through the annual Karthigai Deepam pageant.
The dispute arose from a petition filed by Rama Ravikumar and others searching for permission to mild the sacred lamp on the stone pillar located close to the summit of the hill.
Earlier govt’s opposition
The earlier DMK authorities had opposed the request, arguing that the location’s proximity to the dargah may set off communal tensions and disturb public order. The state maintained that permitting the ritual on the hilltop location risked reopening a delicate dispute in an space the place a Hindu temple and a Muslim shrine have coexisted for generations.
Justice Swaminathan rejected these issues, observing, “It’s ridiculous and arduous to consider the concern of the mighty state that by permitting representatives of the Devasthanam to mild the lamp on the stone pillar close to the highest of the hill positioned inside its territory of Devasthanam land, on a selected day in a yr, will trigger disturbance to public peace.”
“In fact, it could occur provided that such a disturbance is sponsored by the state itself,” he added, urging the federal government to not “stoop” to such a degree. The decide additional held that allowing a restricted variety of temple representatives to mild the lamp and carry out worship was not an unmanageable administrative process and dismissed the state’s law-and-order issues as unfounded.
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When the matter reached a Division Bench, it largely endorsed that reasoning. In its January 6 judgment, the Bench held that apprehensions about communal disturbances amounted to an “imaginary ghost” created for administrative comfort. The courtroom noticed that the Deepathoon stood on land belonging to the Subramaniya Swamy Temple and said that the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board had “no locus” within the dispute.
“The Waqf Board, as on date, has no locus on this matter,” the Excessive Court docket stated.
The Bench was additionally essential of arguments superior on behalf of the Waqf Board through the attraction proceedings. Referring to claims that the lamp pillar itself belonged to the dargah, the judges described the submission as a “mischievous” plea raised for the primary time through the intra-court appeals.
The judgment additionally faulted the state administration for failing to make use of the controversy as a possibility to encourage dialogue between the communities.
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“In our thought-about view, the state, via the district administration, ought to have taken this as a possibility to bridge the distinction between these two communities,” the Bench noticed, including that authorities may have narrowed the hole via “peaceable and significant negotiation.”
Escalating controversy
The Excessive Court docket’s intervention got here after months of escalating litigation and political mobilisation across the hill. Earlier proceedings had seen the state repeatedly argue that any try to mild the lamp on the Deepathoon may result in disturbances due to the pillar’s proximity to the dargah. The courts, nevertheless, constantly rejected these fears.
The controversy centres on a stone pillar close to the summit of the hill and kinds half of a bigger dispute involving entry, possession and competing interpretations of historic observe. Earlier proceedings earlier than the Excessive Court docket had examined whether or not the pillar lay inside temple land, whether or not entry to it required passage via dargah property, and whether or not lighting the lamp there represented a continuation of an older custom or the creation of a brand new one.
The Supreme Court docket problem now locations these points earlier than the nation’s highest courtroom. The petition filed by the Vijay authorities is anticipated to check not solely the Excessive Court docket’s conclusions on public order and non secular observe, but additionally its observations on the conduct of the state administration and the standing of the Waqf Board within the dispute.
