NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 20, 2005: The Supreme court Thursday permitted the central government to withdraw an Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) notification declaring Tamil Nadu’s Arunachaleswarar temple a national heritage monument. While granting permission, judges Y. K. Sabharwal and P. P. Naolekar told Additional Solicitor General B. Dutta to submit in four weeks whether the government had any other proposal for protection and conservation of the temple. The ASI had declared the temple at Tiruvannamalai, dedicated to Lord Siva, a heritage monument in September, 2002. In its affidavit, the government said following the ASI notification, a number of objections were received and there had been widespread protests by the people of Tiruvannamalai, devotees and others in Tamil Nadu. They had objected that the notification was ill-conceived and went against the temple’s sanctity. Considering the objections, the government decided to withdraw the notification.
Describing the central government’s scheme as “ill-conceived and unsuitable,” the Tamil Nadu government said the proposal attempted to highlight the temple and the town as a tourist center, forgetting the religious aspects involved. The state government said the temple was governed by provisions of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, a complete code not only for the management and preservation of such shrines but also for preservation of their properties. If the temple’s ancient nature and crowded manner in which Tiruvannamalai had developed were the reasons for the ASI to lend its protective cover, then many temples in India ought to have come under the ASI, the state government said.
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