The First Division Bench passed the interim order on a public interest litigation (PIL) argued by Senior Advocate Mr.T.Gowthaman appearing on behalf of the Petitioner, T. Santhosh, against the government officials’ decision to permit only 100 vehicles per day for the festival. The petitioner had contended that the function was an once in a year event having huge religious significance to the members of the Uppuli Naicker community. The devotees could not be expected to walk 20 km into the reserve forest and vehicles being parked in the main road will only create traffic congestion and chaos.
[29/02, 12:32] sekarreporter1: https://x.com/sekarreporter1/status/1763097381204369880?t=57OZY8KcCZh_etzIKaVZ6Q&s=08
[29/02, 12:32] sekarreporter1: Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy left it to the discretion of the forest and HR & CE department officials to take a call on a request to permit more than 100 vehicles into the reserve forest for the Arulmigu Adikarivannarayar temple festival within the Sathyamangalam tiger reserve.
The First Division Bench passed the interim order on a public interest litigation (PIL) argued by Senior Advocate Mr.T.Gowthaman appearing on behalf of the Petitioner, T. Santhosh, against the government officials’ decision to permit only 100 vehicles per day for the festival. The petitioner had contended that the function was an once in a year event having huge religious significance to the members of the Uppuli Naicker community. The devotees could not be expected to walk 20 km into the reserve forest and vehicles being parked in the main road will only create traffic congestion and chaos.
It was argued that thousands of members belonging to the community gather in the temple every year. Therefore, instead of fixing a cap of 100 vehicles per day, the officials could permit 100 vehicles to enter the forest at a time and allow the next batch of vehicles after the return of those vehicles so that no one would have to walk a long distance.
It was contended by the Leaned Senior Counsel that making hundreds of people walk for such a long distance inside the tiger reserve might cause more harm to the ecology than regulating their movement in vehicles. He said that the devotees had been attending the temple festival since pre-Independence days and even before the area was declared a tiger reserve.
After hearing him, the judges pointed out that they had already passed certain interim orders in another PIL petition last month permitting the conduct of the festival inside the reserve forest this year with restrictions.
The First Bech held thereafter, “a balance will have to be struck in maintaining the ecology in the forest and the devotees’ right to attend the festival. Considering all this, we had passed the previous order. It is for the HR&CE and forest departments to consider the viability and feasibility of the present petitioner’s request… It is needless to state that all possible steps for the safety of the devotees should be undertaken,” the Bench wrote. Nothing that they had called for a status report after the conduct of the festival and had ordered the listing of the previous PIL petition on March 15, the Judges directed the Registry to list the present case too on the same day.
