Madras High Court
Rangarajan Narsimhan vs The Principal Secretary on 3 September, 2021
W.P.No.18418 of 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 03.09.2021
CORAM :
THE HON'BLE MR.SANJIB BANERJEE, CHIEF JUSTICE
AND
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE P.D.AUDIKESAVALU
W.P.No.18418 of 2021
Rangarajan Narsimhan ... Petitioner-in
Person
Vs.
1.The Principal Secretary,
Tourism, Culture & Religious Endowments,
Secretariat, Fort St. George,
Chennai - 600 009.
2.The Commissioner,
Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments,
119, Uthamar Gandhi Salai,
Nungambakkam, Chennai - 600 034. ... Respondents
Prayer: Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking
issuance of a writ of mandamus forbearing the respondents from
interfering in the religious affairs and altering the religious practices
of Hindu Religious Institutions in any manner and a further direction
to the respondents to withdraw the Annai Thamizhil Archanai scheme
introduced by the respondents.
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W.P.No.18418 of 2021
For the Petitioner : Mr.Rangarajan Narasimhan
Party-in-person
For the Respondents : Mr.R.Shunmugasundaram
Advocate-General
assisted by
Mr.P.Muthukumar
State Government Pleader
ORDER
(Order of the Court was made by the Hon'ble Chief Justice)
The grievance of the petitioner in this public interest litigation is
that the State Government is purporting to interfere in the religious
affairs and altering the religious practices of Hindu religious
institutions in temples. The grievance appears to be particularly
against the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department
which is in control of a large number of temples in this State.
2. The petitioner claims that most of the temples have been set
up according to the agama principles and it has been the age-old
tradition for mantras to be chanted in Sanskrit language. According
to the petitioner, the very sanctity of the mantras is destroyed if not
chanted in Sanskrit.
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W.P.No.18418 of 2021
3. The petitioner refers to a judgment rendered by a Division
Bench of this court on December 16, 1998 in W.P.No.18273 of 1998
(Pasha Karuppiah v. State of Tamil Nadu). The petitioner relies on
paragraph 18 of the judgment to assert that it has already been
accepted in this court that the language in which the mantras would
be chanted may only be Sanskrit. Paragraph 18 of the relevant
judgment reads as follows:
"18. The plea of the petitioner is to bring about a
change in the language of worship in religious
institutions belonging to Hindus. The Court cannot
compel the use of a particular language and the
exclusion of other languages in the religious
institutions of this State at the instance of the
petitioner. The plea of the petitioner is to violate and
not to protect the constitutionally guaranteed right to
profess, practice and propogate one's religion."
4. There is a later judgment of this court reported at 2008-2-
L.W. 236 (V.S.Sivakumar v. M.Pitchai Battar), also rendered by a
Division Bench, where the question posed before the court is
recorded in the first paragraph: whether providing for archanas to be
performed in Tamil at the request of the devotees in addition to the
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W.P.No.18418 of 2021
existing practice of reciting archanas in Sanskrit, would offend the
right to profess Hindu religion guaranteed under Article 25 of the
Constitution. The issue is squarely answered at paragraphs 50 and
51 of the report. The court held that there was nothing in the
agamas or in other religious scripts to prohibit the chanting of
mantras in Tamil in temples. The court also held that the choice was
vested with the devotees to seek for their archanas to be performed
at their wishes by chanting mantras either in Tamil or in Sanskrit.
5. As would be evident from the earlier judgment of this court
relied upon by the petitioner herein, the issue there was whether the
court would compel the use of a particular language and exclude
other languages in Hindu religious institutions in the State at the
behest of the petitioner. It was in such context, where the petitioner
insisted that Tamil alone must be the language in which mantras
ought to be chanted in temples in this State, the court found that the
plea was unjustified and dismissed the petition. The larger issue as
to whether mantras may be chanted in Tamil at the behest of the
devotee apart from the practice in the temples of chanting such
mantras in Sanskrit has been dealt with in the later judgment of
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W.P.No.18418 of 2021
V.S.Sivakumar.
6. Nothing that the petitioner cites would permit this court to
take a view at variance with the one expressed in V.S.Sivakumar. In
the event the petitioner requires a re-assessment, it has to be at an
altogether different level.
7. Judicial discipline commands that when an issue has been
decided, unless the circumstances have changed or the decision on
the issue is rendered suspect on account of the judgment not taking
the applicable law into account or any pronouncement of a superior
forum has intervened, the matter may not be revisited. There is no
change in the circumstances and no case is made out for
reconsidering a matter that has been concluded in the year 2008 and
instructs the manner in which mantras may be chanted in temples in
the State.
8. Since the only issue which the petitioner raises is covered in
the previous judgment of this court which remains binding, there is
no merit in the present petition for it to be admitted.
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W.P.No.18418 of 2021
9. W.P.No.18418 of 2021 is dismissed at the receiving stage on
the grounds indicated above. W.M.P.No.19634 of 2021 is closed.
There will, however, be no order as to costs.
(S.B., CJ.) (P.D.A., J.)
03.09.2021
Index : No
bbr
To:
1.The Principal Secretary,
Tourism, Culture & Religious Endowments,
Secretariat, Fort St. George,
Chennai 600 009.
2.The Commissioner,
Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments,
119, Uthamar Gandhi Salai,
Nungambakkam, Chennai 600 034.
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W.P.No.18418 of 2021
THE HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE
AND
P.D.AUDIKESAVALU, J.
bbr
W.P.No.18418 of 2021
03.09.2021
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