The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday, 6 January 2026, strongly rebuked the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board for making a “mischievous” claim over the centuries-old stone lamp pillar (Deepathoon) at the centre of the Thirupparankundram hill dispute.
When the court was hearing of a batch of appeals following the December 1 order which permitted Hindus to light the lamp on the Thirupparankundram Hill, the counsel for the Waqf Board surprisingly argued that the lamp pillar belonged to the Waqf – a submission that the court said damaged the Board’s credibility and cast doubt on its offer to mediate.
Court: “Mischievous Submission” Without Locus
In its 170-page verdict, a division bench comprising Justice G Jayachandran and Justice KK Ramakrishnan noted: “For the first time in the course of argument in the intra Court appeals, on behalf of the Waqf a mischievous submission was made that the lamp pillar belongs to Dharga.”
The court added that this claim “had deterred and added yet another reason for the other side to be skeptical about the offer made by the Waqf Board for Court monitoring mediation.”
No Legal Standing
The judges clarified that the Waqf Board had no legal standing in the matter for several reasons:
- The ‘Sikkandar Dharga’ is not a notified Dharga or mosque under the Waqf Act.
- The entire Thirupparankundram hill is a protected archaeological site under the Ancient Monuments Act.
- Under Section 3-D of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, any Waqf notification is void if the property is a protected monument.
“The Waqf Board, as on date have no locus in this matter,” the court ruled.
Ownership Settled by 1920 Decree
The bench reaffirmed that the lamp pillar is situated within the portion of the hill legally owned by the Arulmigu Subramanian Swamy Temple, as decreed by the civil court in O.S.No.4 of 1920 and later confirmed by the Privy Council.
The judges recorded that the assertion of exclusive ownership over the hill or parts of it by the dargah and the Waqf was a “claim raised intermittently whenever disputes arise,” but one that had “failed to secure judicial affirmation in earlier proceedings.”
“The location of the pillar is in the portion of the hill declared by a competent civil Court as property of the Devasthanam.”
Additionally, the judgement noted that the presence of the Sikkandar dargah, Jain caves, and other later structures did not divest the temple of its larger proprietary and religious rights over the hill. The court pointedly remarked that these structures were “not of contemporaneous origin” and had arisen “much after the hill had attained religious significance for Hindu worship.”
With this observation, the court has dismissed the Waqf’s claim as legally untenable, reaffirmed temple ownership over the Deepathoon, and raised doubts about the Waqf’s neutrality in future mediation efforts.
The pillar will now be used for the Karthigai Deepam lighting under the supervision of the district administration, with no role for the Waqf Board.
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