The submissions were made during the hearing of a public interest litigation petition seeking to direct the Ranganatha Perumal Temple management to rejuvenate the tank. | Photo credit: B. VELANKANNI RAJ
The management of the Ranganatha Perumal temple at Tiruneermalai in Chengalpattu district on Monday (February 2, 2026) informed the Madras High Court to start work to rejuvenate the temple tank called Manikarnika/Theertha at a cost of over ₹63 crore.
Before First Division Judge Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan, senior counsel AK Sriram, representing the executive officer of the temple, said the work had started on January 7. He said that the approximate cost of rejuvenating the temple tank is estimated to be somewhere between ₹63 lakh and ₹63 lakh going forward, up to ₹6000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 The work is expected to be completed within a reasonable time.
The submissions were made during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed by P. Bhaskar of Chengalpattu, seeking a direction to the temple management to rejuvenate the tank. The judges ordered the management to submit a status report within two weeks.
Counsel for the petitioner B. Jagannath told the court that in Tamil, Tiruneermalai means a hillock surrounded by water. He said the hilltop Ranganatha Perumal temple was one of the 108 Divyadesams worshiped by Vaishnavites and the tank on the ground had special significance.
Stating that there was also a separate temple for Neervana Perumal at the base of the mountain, the counsel said that the temple administration as well as the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) department had failed to properly maintain the temple tank despite receiving very high revenue.
He said that the Hindu carried a newspaper article on 28 November 2025 titled “Devotes demand urgent restoration of neglected Thiruneermalai temple tank” and insisted on issuing a directive to the HR and CE department, the CEO and the Chengalpattu collector to rejuvenate the tank.
Published – 02 Feb 2026 20:58 IST