ORDER

(By G.R.Swaminathan J.)

The writ petitioner is a resident of Kalapatti which falls within Coimbatore Corporation limit. He has filed this writ petition challenging the impugned communications issued by the District Collector, Coimbatore District and the RDO, Coimbatore North providing police protection to enable the sixth respondent herein to construct a church in the petition mentioned site.

2. This writ petition has been moved during the vacation sitting of this Court. When it was listed for admission on 21.05.2026, the counsel for the petitioner insisted on issuance of short notice. Even though urgency had been set out in the affidavit filed in support of this writ petition, we called upon the petitioner’s counsel to impress upon us as to why we should do so. The learned counsel submitted that following the change of Government headed by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri C.Joseph Vijay, certain fundamentalist organisations have become emboldened. He pointed out that the Hon’ble Speaker Shri JCD Prabhakar, who proclaims that he had distributed thousands of free copies of the Bible, quoted biblical verses in his inaugural address to the Legislative Assembly. He also added that when Shri Udhayanidhi Stalin, the leader of opposition, called for annihilation of Sanatana dharma in his address in the Assembly, it was not condemned or even objected to by the ruling party. He drew our attention to the statement of Thiru V.M.S.Mustafa, the recently elected MLA from the temple town of Madurai that annihilation of Sanatana dharma is indeed a policy of the ruling party. He placed on record the fact that posters have appeared in some parts of Tamil Nadu calling for construction of, churches in every village.

3.Since there has been a disruption in the political eco-system, according to the petitioner’s counsel, the construction of a church which was put on hold has been resumed recently. That is why, he states that the petitioner had to rush to this Court seeking relief during its vacation sitting. We, therefore, directed issuance of notice to the contesting private respondent returnable by 29.05.2026.

4.When the matter was listed, the counsel for the sixth respondent/church sought time. In fact, we could have disposed of the writ petition itself as the issue had already been concluded. But we decided to give due opportunity to the contesting respondent to file his counter.

5.The counsel for the petitioner insisted on interim relief. Hence, we had to delve into the facts of the case.

6.It is not in dispute that in Survey No.155/1, a Mariyamman Temple is located. Admittedly, it has been in existence for more than hundred years. According to the petitioner, in the village, there were originally about 350 families, out of which just 3 families professed Christianity. Now, there are thousand families out of them, 950 families profess Hinduism; 15 profess Islam and very few families profess Christianity. Yet, vide order dated 30.01.2010, the then District Collector granted permission for construction of church in Survey No.155/2 in the face of vehement opposition from the Hindus. Hence, O.S No.1378 of 2011 was instituted by the worshippers of the temple before the District Munsif Court, Coimbatore. The suit is still pending. Notwithstanding the grant of permission, since there was severe opposition in the locality the construction could not take place. While so, some thirteen years later, the private respondents tried to resume construction and obtained orders to that effect. Again, law and order problems arose. Peace meetings were conducted. In order to ensure peace, the District Collector appears to have called upon the private respondents to stop work and discontinue the construction.

7.Aggrieved by the same, the Church of South India filed WP No.8128 of 2024. The writ petition was disposed of on 28.04.2026. Paragraph 6 and 7 of the said order read as follows:

“6.Perusal of records reveal that the petitioner Church sought permission to