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2026 Supreme(Online)(Mad) 36944
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
L.VICTORIA GOWRI, J
S.R.Vinu – Appellant
Versus
The District Collector / District Election Officer, Kanyakumari District, Nagercoil – Respondent
Writ Petition
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Mr.N.P.Ajish for M.R.Sreenivasan
For the Respondents:Mr.C.Satheesh Government Advocate(Civil), Mr.S.Ravi Additional Public Prosecutor, Mr.Niranjan Rajagopalan
Temple festival permissions must be granted despite elections if peacefully conducted historically with petitioner responsibility.
Headnote:Article 226 of the Constitution of India enables issuance of writ of mandamus to direct authorities to consider representations and grant permissions. Petitioner sought permission for Aarattu procession and fireworks during temple festival coinciding with election day. Court noted the festival's peaceful history and absence of rival claims, directing consideration of representation despite police bandobast duties. Issue framed as whether permission for procession should be granted on election day given police constraints. Ratio: Age-old temple festivals conducted peacefully warrant facilitation; petitioner assumes responsibility for peaceful conduct, with accountability for incidents. Writ petition disposed with directions to forward representation, consider and grant permission for procession, and obtain separate fireworks permission.
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. petition seeks mandamus for temple festival permissions. (Para 1) |
| 2. police cite election duties; court notes peaceful history. (Para 2) |
| 3. direct consideration and grant procession permission. (Para 3 , 4) |
6.The Special Election Officer, Vilavamcode Constituency Taluk, Kanyakumari District. ... Respondents PRAYER :-Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, to issue a Writ of Mandamus, directing the respondents to consider the petitioner's representation dated 01.04.2026 and grant permission for the Aarattu procession based on the Aahama Rules and the traditional cultural programme and display fireworks at the premises of the temple till 01.30 a.m on 23.04.2026, the 10th day of Annual Festival Celebration of the village public temple, Arulmigu Sathasiva Manonmanipuram Devasthanam Temple, Vilathurai, Kappukadu, Vilavancode Taluk, Kanyakumari District within the time stipulated by this Court.
For Petitioner : Mr.N.P.Ajish for M.R.Sreenivasan For R4 & R6 : Mr.C.Satheesh Government Advocate(Civil)
For R2, R3 & R5 : Mr.S.Ravi Additional Public Prosecutor For R1 & R6 : Mr.Niranjan Rajagopalan
ORDER
Seeking to direct the respondents to consider the petitioner's representation dated 01.04.2026 and grant permission for the Aarattu procession and to display fireworks at the premises of the temple on 23.04.2026, more particularly on the 10th day of Annual Festival Celebration of Arulmigu Sathasiva Manonmanipuram Devasthanam Temple, Vilathurai, Kappukadu, Vilavancode Taluk, Kanyakumari District, this writ petition is filed.
2. The learned Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that the 10th day of the Temple Festival falls on the election day, on which date the police officials will be fully engaged in the Bandobast duties related to the election and hence, the respondent police will not be in a position to give due protection at the time of Aarattu procession. However, this Court is of the concerned view that it is an age-old temple where temple festival is being conducted for several years from time to time without any untoward incident, peacefully. It is also the submission of the petitioner, who is the president of the said temple that there is no rival claim with respect to the conduct of the 10th day festival of the said temple and that petitioner and the temple committee will take the entire responsibility for conducting the same peacefully. If anything untoward happens, the petitioner and the temple committee would be at risk to face the consequences of the same.
3. Heard the learned counsels on either side and carefully perused the materials available on record.
4. In view of the limited scope of the relief sought for, the 5th respondent police is directed to forward the petitioner's representation to the 6th respondent.
The 6th respondent in turn is directed to consider the petitioner's representation, dated 01.04.2026 forthwith and grant permission to the petitioner temple for the conduct of Aarattu procession on 23.04.2026 and facilitate the proper conduct of 10th day of Annual Festival Celebration of the village public temple, Arulmigu Sathasiva Manonmanipuram Devasthanam Temple, Vilathurai, Kappukadu, Vilavancode Taluk. It is made clear that the petitioner committee should obtain necessary permission from the 4th respondent for display of fire works.
