DMK leader Kanimozhi on Wedneaday submitted an impeachment notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking the removal of Madras High Court judge G R Swaminathan. She did so after securing the signatures of more than 120 MPs. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were also present during the submission.
The development comes amid growing tension over a Madras High Court order that allowed devotees to light a ceremonial lamp at a hilltop pillar in Madurai rather than at the temple below. The Tamil Nadu government has challenged the order and continues to restrict access to the site, leading to a legal standoff.
Escalation of the dispute
The conflict intensified last Friday when the state government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against a contempt petition, along with a separate appeal in the high court against the single judge’s order. The Supreme Court has admitted the plea, and a division bench of the Madras High Court will hear the matter on December 10.
The controversy began on December 1, when Justice GR Swaminathan of the Madurai bench allowed a petition by Hindu Tamilar Katchi founder Rama Ravikumar, permitting devotees to light the Deepam at the Deepathoon pillar on Thiruparankundram hill. When authorities blocked the ritual during the Karthigai Deepam festival on December 3, Ravikumar filed a contempt petition. The judge then allowed Ravikumar and 10 others to light the lamp with CISF protection, but the police stopped them again at the foothills, citing the state’s pending appeal.
Historical context of the Thiruparankundram dispute
Thiruparankundram hill, one of the six sacred abodes of Lord Murugan, contains an ancient rock cut temple and is a major pilgrimage centre. The hill also includes a dargah. Tensions between the temple and the dargah date back to 1920, when the ownership of the hill was first contested. A civil court ruling, upheld by the Privy Council, confirmed that the hill belongs to the Subramaniaswamy Temple except for certain areas linked to the dargah. However, the ruling did not address rituals or the Deepam tradition.
The Deepam dispute
The lighting of the Deepam became contentious only in 1994 when a devotee asked the high court to shift the ritual from the traditional site near the Uchipillaiyar Kovil mandapam at the temple to the Deepathoon location on the hilltop close to the dargah. In 1996, the high court ruled that the Deepam should ordinarily be lit in the traditional place near the mandapam, a directive that remains the only judicial order defining the recognised site for the ritual.
