Can't decide auspicious time for religious rituals: Supreme Court junks challenge to TN temple ritual timing

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea filed by the Vidhayahar (hereditary religious authority) of Sri Subramaniya Swamy Temple in Tamil Nadu's Thiruchendur challenging the timing of the temple’s Kumbhabhishekam (consecration) ceremony scheduled for July 7 [R Sivarama Subramaniya Sasthirigal v. The State of Tamil Nadu]..A Bench of Justice Manoj Misra and Justice N Kotiswar Singh was hearing a plea challenging the Madras High Court’s decision upholding the recommendation of a five-member committee of Agama experts to conduct the Kumbhabhishekam ceremony between 6:00 AM and 6:47 AM on July 7.The Court said that it does not possess the expertise to determine the auspicious timing for religious rituals. “We cannot decide what is the auspicious time. We could say in future if they should consult with you, form a committee etc," Bench noted.In light of the same, the Court found no reason to interfere with the High Court’s order and revise the timing to the alternative window of 12:05 PM to 12:47 PM as proposed by the petitioner."We are of the view that the orders impugned do not call for any interference particularly, when, as per the second impugned order, it has been directed that temples shall follow the earlier practice of seeking opinion from the Vidhayahar through written communications alone, subject to Vidhyahar indicating whether it is draft or final Pattolia, in respect of date and timing of the ceremonies. We, therefore, decline to exercise our jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India," the Court ordered..The petitioner, who is the Vidhayahar of the Sri Subramaniya Swamy Temple temple, initially filed a plea before the Madras High Court seeking to mandate the timing of the Kumbhabhishekam ceremony on July 7 between 6:00 AM and 6:47 AM. Owing to conflicting views on the auspicious timing, the High Court constituted a five-member expert committee of priests—of which the petitioner was also a member—to recommend the timing.The petitioner challenged the formation of this committee before the Supreme Court, which disposed of the matter by granting liberty to seek review before the High Court. Pursuant to this liberty, the High Court entertained the review and again passed an order against the petitioner.Aggrieved by the order, petitioner moved before the Supreme Court.The petitioners contended that the State authorities had unilaterally decided the timing of the Kumbhabhishekam between 6:00 AM and 6:50 AM, disregarding the religious and astrological recommendation of the Vidhayahar, who claimed exclusive customary authority to determine such timings in accordance with Agamic and Vedic principles. Therefore, the appointment of a committee and reliance on its recommendation was unjustified, the petitioner claimed..The State submitted that the petitioner’s rights are already under adjudication in a pending civil suit. Regarding the timing of the July 7 ceremony, they contended that there was confusion due to multiple differing opinions and even the petitioner initially lacked clarity on the appropriate time.In light of this, the Madras High Court had rightly constituted a five-member committee of priests to determine the schedule. Since the timing was fixed based on a 4:1 majority opinion of the committee including the petitioner, no interference with the High Court’s order was warranted, it was argued..After hearing the rival submissions, the Supreme Court refused to intervene, observing that it did not possess the expertise to determine the “auspicious timing” of religious rituals. Accordingly, it dismissed the petition..Senior Advocate K Parameshwar and advocates A Karthik, Smrithi Suresh, Sugam Agrawal and Ujjwal Sharma appeared for the petitioners. .Senior Advocates M Sathyanaryanan and R Shunmugasundaram and advocates Misha Rohatgi, Nakul Mohta, Sneha Menan, Shakeena AG, M Muthugeethayan and B Karunakaran appeared for the respondents..[Read Order]