CHENNAI: Madras high court has banned any construction or renovation of any ancient temple in Tamil Nadu, ticking off the state govt for its delay in constituting the Tamil Nadu Heritage Commission.A special bench of Justice R Suresh Kumar and Justice S Soundar passed the interim order on Thursday, on a plea moved by A Radhakrishnan and T R Ramesh, seeking to restrain the construction of a commercial complex in front of the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai.During an earlier hearing, the court granted one month to the state govt to take a decision on constituting the Tamil Nadu Heritage Commission. On Thursday, when the pleas came up for hearing, the HR and CE department submitted that the rules relating to the heritage commission were already framed and a selection committee was formed, headed by the chief secretary, to select the chairperson of the commission.Applications were invited for the post, and a notification was issued on the state’s archaeology department’s website, it said.Refusing to accept the submissions, the bench questioned the department on why advertisements were not issued in newspapers inviting applications for the post, and how it could be assumed that everyone saw the notification published only on the website.The court then directed the department to publish the notification in four Tamil news dailies and three English news dailies within one week. The court further directed that two weeks’ time might be granted to receive the applications. The applications received shall be scrutinised, and three names shall be shortlisted and submitted to the court in a sealed cover, the judges said.Until such a process is completed, no construction or renovation activities should be carried out in ancient temples, the court said and adjourned the hearing to March 5.
