Last month, the court had directed the temple administration to reconsider the location of the statue as it was allegedly just 137 meters away from the forest reserves.
The Madras High Court has asked its amici curiae in forest-related cases to inspect the site where the Marudhamalai Subramaniaswamy Temple administration has decided to install a 184-feet tall statue of Lord Murugan in the Boluvampatti Forest Range in the Western Ghats.
A special division judge N. Sathish Kumar and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, constituted to hear forest and wildlife related cases, wanted amici curiae T. Mohan, Chevanan Mohan, Rahul Balaji and M. Santhanaraman to visit the site and submit their report by January 23, 2026.
The inspection was ordered to be carried out in the presence of Special Government Agent (Forests) T. Seenivasan and Special Government Agent (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department) NRR Arun Natarajan after ascertaining a convenient date.
Last month, the Bench directed the temple administration to reconsider the location of the statue as it was allegedly just 137 meters away from the forest reserves. Subsequently, senior counsel R. Shunmugasundaram representing the HR&CE department explained the proposal in detail.
The court was told that the Subramaniaswamy temple at Marudhamalai is situated on 13 acres of land in the Boluvampatti forest range. The Supreme Council said its history dates back to several thousand years, the temple was built by the Kongu Cholas and renovated by the Vijayanagara emperors.
The temple administration has now decided to install the 184-feet tall statue of Lord Murugan on only 23 cents of the 4.96-acre impact area available in the foothills. The remaining 4.73 acres would remain untouched and could accommodate up to 15,000 devotees at any time, the bench was informed.
Stating that it has been decided to introduce one-way traffic around the statue, Mr. Shunmugasundaram said that currently 2,500 devotees visit the temple during weekdays and 4,000 on weekends, but the number is expected to increase to 5,000 and 10,000 after the installation of the statue.
He said the temple management has also decided to lease 7.98 acres of poromboke government land, located near Bharathiyar University and at a distance of 600 meters from the proposed statue, for setting up a bus terminal, vehicle parking and so on.
Claiming that the statue will not in any way affect the elephant corridor, which is 7 km away, the senior counsel said, the forest officials of the ranger office functioning at the foot of the hills will construct a watch tower and ensure that the devotees do not cause any inconvenience to the wild animals.
Published – 20 Dec 2025 19:54 IST
