The Madras High Court ordered Thanjavur's Collector to relocate Periyar's statue from temple land. The ruling affirms that its installation lacked approval from any competent authority.Image used for representational purposes onlyMadurai,Nov 4, 2026 13:18 ISTThe Madras High Court has directed the Thanjavur District Collector to move a statue of rationalist leader E V Ramasamy, popularly known as Periyar, from temple land to another suitable place within four weeks, news agency Press Trust of India reported.The court held that the statue had been installed without permission from the temple authorities, the District Collector or any other competent authority.A Division Bench of Justices P Velmurugan and K K Ramakrishnan issued the direction while hearing a petition seeking the removal of the statue from land belonging to the Arulmigu Brahmasirakandeeswarar Temple at Kandiyur in Thanjavur district's Thiruvaiyaru taluk.Petitioner Rama Ravikumar sought the statue's removal within a timeframe fixed by the High Court, citing a recommendation by the Joint Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.

According to PTI, the court said a status report filed by the Thanjavur District Collector showed that the statue stood on temple land and not on government land classified as 'poramboke'."Since the statue is installed in the temple land without obtaining permission either from the temple authority or from the District Collector or from any other competent authority, the 4th respondent/District Collector is directed to remove the said statue safely from the temple land and also place it in some other suitable place within a period of four weeks from today and file a report," the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court said in its order. The court directed its registry to list the matter after four weeks to report compliance with the order.The statue of E V Ramasamy, who lived from 1879 to 1973 and was respectfully addressed as Periyar, had been installed decades ago near the temple's perimeter.

Periyar was a reformist Dravidian leader and iconoclast. The District Collector must now safely relocate the statue and submit a compliance report to the court within four weeks.- Ends