Chennai: The Madras High Court on Tuesday upheld a single-judge directive allowing the lighting of the Karthigai Deepam lamp atop Thiruparankundram hill, while delivering a sharp rebuke to the Tamil Nadu government for citing "imaginary" law-and-order concerns to block the ritual.

A Division Bench of Justices G. Jayachandran and K.K. Ramakrishnan dismissed the state's appeals against a December order by Justice G.R. Swaminathan, which mandated that the temple administration restore the tradition of lighting the lamp at the "Deepathoon" stone pillar. The Bench characterised the state's apprehensions of communal unrest as "ridiculous" and "hard to believe," suggesting that the administration should have focused on facilitating harmony rather than obstructing religious practice.

"Ridiculous and hard to believe the fear of mighty state that by allowing representatives of devasthanam to light a lamp at the stone pillar on a particular day in a year will cause disturbance to public peace," the court observed.

The judges noted that the fear of public disturbance was essentially an "imaginary ghost created conveniently," which served only to foster mistrust between the Hindu and Muslim communities who share religious sites on the hill. The court criticised the state's submission that the pillar belonged to the nearby Hazarath Sultan Sikkandar Badhusha Dargah, calling the claim "mischievous" and reaffirming that the site is on temple land.

To ensure future peace, the court issued a set of guidelines intended to allow both communities to observe their respective traditions without interference.