Temples can be open on New Year eve: Madras high court

CHENNAI: The Madras high court has dismissed a PIL moved by a lawyer seeking to restrain the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) department from opening temples at midnight for ‘western’ New Year celebrations.
A division bench of Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad said, as held by the Supreme Court, judicial comity is an integral part of judicial discipline and to maintain judicial discipline, corner stone of the judicial integrity requires that judgments of coordinate benches must be respected.
The petitioner, A Ashvathaman, said Hindu temples are constructed under Hindu Aagama Rule which states a temple is to be closed around 9pm after solemnising the Arthajama pooja and opened between 4.30am and 6am, known as Brahma Muhurtham. He pointed out a notification issued by the Andhra Pradesh(AP) government in 2017, giving instructions to Hindu temples not to celebrate the New Year and open Hindu temples at midnight. To this, the bench made it clear that the notification issued in AP is not binding on state of Tamil Nadu.