State government approves proposal for construction of new buildings for Madurai Bench of Madras High Court

The Tamil Nadu government has accepted in principle the proposal for the construction of additional buildings for the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. These new buildings will be constructed on temple land located right in front of the existing court buildings in Ulaganeri, Madurai. Advocate General Vijay Narayan gave this information before a division bench of Justice G. Jayachandran and K.K. Ramakrishnan.

Advocate General Narayan stated that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, Law Minister C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar, and Finance Minister N. Mary Wilson will approve these files. The government order with administrative and financial approval will be issued in the next two weeks. He further added that he has received verbal instructions from Chief Secretary M. Sai Kumar that this project has been approved. Now only the processing of the file remains, and the foundation stone for the construction can be laid at the earliest.

The proposal with the revised construction plan and detailed estimate was sent to the state government by the High Court administration on 1 October, 2026. This letter was received by the government on 7 October, 2026. After examination, the Home Department sent the file to the Public Works Department (PWD) on 16 October, 2026. The PWD cleared the file on 27 October, 2026, and it was sent to the Finance Department on the same day. The Advocate General stated that the state government is keen to approve proposals regarding judicial infrastructure across the state. There are approximately 900 proposals in the state, out of which the Registrar General of the High Court, Deepti Ariveniti, has provided a list of proposals to be approved on a priority basis.

Advocate General told the bench that he has spoken to Finance Secretary M.A. Siddique, who is very active in providing better infrastructure for the courts. He assured that not only the High Court, but all proposals of all courts in the state will be approved one by one. Meanwhile, Justice Jayachandran questioned why the High Court's 1 October, 2026 proposal was received at Fort St. George on 7 October, 2026? He asked if it takes seven days to cover a distance of more than two kilometers? The Advocate General clarified that although the letter was dated 1 October, the registered post receipt shows that it was posted on 6 October, so the government received it on 7 October. However, the lawyer for the High Court administration stated that the message was also sent through a special messenger. After hearing both sides, the judges decided to summon all records to investigate the cause of the delay and adjourned the matter for three weeks.

This land acquisition has a long history. In 2019, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Advocate M. Saravanan, seeking a direction to the government to acquire 9.49 acres of land of the Kothandaramaswamy Temple in Othakadai, Madurai. Along with this, two other PILs were heard regarding cleaning the waste and animal waste thrown by meat shops on the temple land. Officials of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and local bodies were directed to keep the property clean.

On 10 June, 2023, the High Court administration sent a proposal to the government that they need 6.51 acres of land to build additional infrastructure like car parking, additional quarters for court staff, community hall, auditorium/conference hall, and a digitization center attached to the record room for the Madurai Bench. Subsequently, in 2025, several legal hurdles had to be cleared to acquire a large portion of the land. Due to adverse claims on the property, an amount of ₹17.63 crore was deposited in the district court on 24 September, 2025. After the land acquisition, the High Court's building committee approved the construction plan, but work could not proceed due to the implementation of the code of conduct during the 2026 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly general elections.

On the other hand, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has delivered an important verdict that non-Hindus wearing religious symbols of other religions will not get entry into Agamic temples if they do not express respect for the concerned deity. This verdict goes beyond the existing system, where earlier only non-Hindus wanting to cross the flagstaff were required to have faith in the deity and follow temple traditions. Now the restrictions will extend from the areas around the flagstaff to the entire Agamic temple premises. A division bench of Justice G.R. Swaminathan and P. Murugan delivered this verdict on a petition regarding temple entry and compliance with Agamic orders.

The court stated that this order is not a blanket ban on all people wearing symbols of other religions. However, the court has not clarified whether a non-Hindu will be able to get entry by wearing those symbols if they sign a prescribed undertaking. The judges referred to a video that went viral on social media, which showed people wearing skull caps entering the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai despite protests from devotees. The court criticized the temple staff for being mere "silent spectators." The court also gave examples of political leaders, including Madurai Central MLA Badruddin Mustafa, who claimed to inspect facilities after the election and entered the Meenakshi Temple and went to the temple spires during the Kumbhabhishekam. It also mentioned a Christian minister who entered the Tiruchendur temple without giving the necessary undertaking.

In comparison, the court mentioned Chief Minister Joseph Vijay, who, despite practicing Christianity, went to worship at the Meenakshi Temple after signing an undertaking. The judges said that he was not asked to convert but only to express respect for the deity, which they termed as an "inclusive approach." This verdict is limited only to Agamic temples, as devotees of various religions visit temples like Ayyappa and Shirdi Sai Baba.