“Considering the sentiments of the Hindu masses,” the Madras High Court on Friday permitted all those who wanted to install idols of Lord Ganesha in public places for the Vinayagar Chathurthi celebrations to submit their applications either to the jurisdictional Deputy Superintendents of Police or Assistant Commissioners of Police by 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Justice R. Mahadevan directed police officers to establish a single-window system for scrutinising the applications in consultation with officials attached to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, Fire and Rescue Services department and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation and grant the approvals before 5 p.m. on Monday.
The judge made it clear that the applications should be accompanied by consent letters from nearby houses or shops from where the organisers could obtain electricity connection for the sites housing the idols.
The interim orders were passed on writ petitions filed by the Hindu Munnani, represented by its general secretary C. Parameswaran, Vinayagar Chathurthi Madhiya Kuzhu represented by its trustee Rama Gopalan and few others challenging a Government Order issued on August 9, imposing as many as 24 conditions for installing the idols in public places.
During the course of the hearing, Advocate General Vijay Narayan agreed to a suggestion by the judge to establish a single window system this year.
He also said the organisers could draw electricity from nearby houses or commercial establishments with the owners’ consent. The submission was made after senior counsel S. Prabhakaran pointed out that obtaining temporary commercial connections for every other idol was an impossible task when thousands of idols were to be established across the State.
When R.C. Paul Kanagaraj, counsel for an idol maker, brought it to the notice of the court that he had obtained advance money from many organisers and made several idols that were more than 10 feet tall (the maximum height prescribed under the August 9 GO), the A-G said the officials would not take action if the idols were one or two feet taller than the stipulated height.
Justice Mahadevan said he would not interfere with other conditions such as the ban imposed on idols made of polluting materials, the ban on drawing electricity from public lamp posts and the restriction on using inflammable materials to put up temporary structures.
“The date, time and place with regard to procession and immersion of idols shall be fixed by the authority concerned as per their procedure. The organisers shall cooperate with the officials for celebrating the festival and the procession and immersion of idols in a peaceful manner and there shall be no untoward incident on account of the same,” the judge ordered.