KOOTTALUMOODU ARULMIGU BHADRESWARI DEVASTHANAM Vs. DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This intra-court appeal is directed against the order dtd. 27/4/2023 made in W.P.(MD) No.8805 of 2023 filed by the appellant herein. The appellant is an ancient temple. There is a tradition of conducting display of fire works in the concluding session of "Chithirai Festival" after the temple flag is lowered. When the appellant filed the writ petition for directing the second respondent to grant such permission, the learned Judge by the impugned order stipulated a condition that permission may be granted for bursting of fire crackers between 09:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on 9/5/2023. Aggrieved by the imposition of such condition, this writ appeal has been filed.

(2.) The learned Judge took note of the fact that during such display of fire works in the year 2015, one J.Jeban Sekar had died. The temple administration was directed to pay a sum of Rs.5,00,000.00 (Rupees Five Lakhs only) as a matter of humanitarian gesture and without prejudice to the defence of the accused in the pending criminal case. Even though the writ appeal is directed against the entire order, the learned counsel appearing for the temple/appellant informed the Court that this direction to pay compensation has been complied with. Receipt given by the victim's family was produced before us.

(3.) The only question that calls for consideration is whether that learned Single Judge was justified in stipulating condition regarding timings. We take note of the fact that this is not the first time the issue has cropped up before this Court. The appellant herein had earlier filed W.P.(MD) No.9701 of 2019 and the said writ petition was allowed on 23/4/2019 in the following terms:-