Chennai, July 15 (PTI) The first bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to constitute a panel to identify the temples across the State, which followed which type of Agama (temple rituals), so that a list can be prepared, which can serve as a guide for appointment of Archakas or the priests.

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The bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice N Mala gave the direction when a PIL petition from Swami Rambadracharya and others, challenging the Archakas appointment rules framed by the state government, came up today.

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Petitioner is the founder and the head of Tulsi Peeth, a religious and a social service organisation in Chitrakuta in Madhya Pradesh and the lifelong chancellor of the Jagadguru Rambhadracharya Handicapped University.

He had been conferred with Sahitya Akademi award for Sanskrit and recipient of Padma Vibhushan in 2015. He deposed as an expert witness in Ayodhya Ramjanmabhumi case and described the boundaries of the Janmabhoomi as mentioned in the Ayodhya Mahatmya section of Skanda Purana, which tallied with the location of the disputed area.

The bench said that the panel shall be headed by a retired judge of the High Court, with members well versed with religious practices. It shall be done within a month.

Justice D Raju, a retired judge of the Supreme Court, is likely to head the panel.

According to the petitioners, the state Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment department is attempting to dilute the provisions of Agama with a view to completely extinguishing the Hindu Agamic knowledge systems that had been preserved and nurtured for thousands of years by sages, gurus and scholars.

In temples in Tamil Nadu, people from all communities are already working as Archakas depending on the customs and traditions of the temples. The government's move to appoint Archakas defying temple traditions would amount to interfering with the religious affairs of Hindus, petitioners added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)