'All Are Humans Before God, No Caste Discrimination': Madras High Court Junks Pleas For Appointing Temple Trustee From Particular Caste

“Before God, all persons are human beings and therefore, there cannot be any discrimination based on caste. Accordingly, the grievance of the petitioner cannot be entertained by this Court and cannot be countenanced, this writ petition is dismissed,” the court said.

Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy referred to one of his judgments earlier this year where the court had held that any prayer which has the effect of perpetuating caste was not just unconstitutional but also against public policy.

The court also borrowed the words of Swami Vivekananda who said that the soul has neither sex nor caste nor imperfection and the words of Dr BR Ambedkar who said that caste exists only in the mind and had no physical existence. The court lamented that even then, some persons were approaching the court seeking prayers on the basis of caste.

The court was hearing a petition filed by the Secretary of the Karani Gramam Sengundar Sangam challenging a notification issued by the Joint Commissioner HR & CE Department for appointing trustees to the Karaneeswarar Koil in Saidapet, Chennai. The plea asked for issuance of elevtion notification for conducting elections to the post of trustees from among the members of the Sengunthar community.

The petitioner contended that trustees should be appointed only from the particular caste and not be nominated by the Government. It was submitted that in the earlier notification issued in 2022, application was invited only from persons belonging to the particular caste. However, the present notification had invited applications from the general public prompting the petitioners to approach the court.

The court reiterated that caste was not a religious denomination and no caste could claim exclusive right to administer a temple. Relying on the earlier judgments passed by the High Court in similar matters, the court dismissed the plea holding that such grievance could not be countenanced.

Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. L. Dhamodharan

Counsel for Respondents: Mr. K. Karthikeyan Government Advocate

Case Title: K V Venugopal v. Secretary to Government of TN

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 169

Case NO: W.P.No.15257 of 2025