Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Bench resolves dispute over fete

Staff Reporter

In Madurai and Virudhunagar over temple fete

MADURAI : The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday resolved a dispute between villagers in Madurai and Virudhunagar districts over celebrating a temple festival.

Passing interim orders on a writ petition, Justice R. Banumathi said the villagers from the two districts should jointly participate in the `Kilari' festival of Chinna Karuppanasamy Temple, at Aviyur village in Virudhunagar.

The Judge also directed the police to provide adequate security for the festival scheduled between April 6 and 9.

Later, the case was posted to April 25 for finding a permanent solution to the disagreement between the villagers.

In their affidavit, the villagers from Kulamangalam and Palanganatham in Madurai alleged that the residents of Aviyur in Virudhunagar district did not extend them an invitation for the temple festival, defying an age-old tradition.

According to them, every year, the villagers jointly celebrated the festival and a thirty-member committee, comprising representatives from all three villages, was set up to work out the modalities.

But, last year, Aviyur villagers attempted to exclude Madurai residents from participating in the festival and the latter resisted the move. Several peace committee meetings were held to solve the row.

Still the parties did not arrive at a solution and hence, the villagers from Madurai filed a writ petition before the Bench and it was still pending adjudication. Subsequently, a civil suit was also filed before the lower court.

In the meantime, the `Kilari' festival scheduled for this year was due shortly but there was no invitation from the other side, the petitioners said and prayed for a direction to the Virudhunagar Collector to restrain the Aviyur people from celebrating the festival without inviting the villagers from here.

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