A deity recognised as a juristic person cannot be left remediless as it does not participate in polls: HC

A deity recognised as a juristic person in law cannot be left remediless as it does not participate in elections. The deity may not vote, but the Constitution speaks, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has said.

The court made this observation while issuing directions to authorities to recover lands belonging to Balasubramanya Swamy Temple in Vennaimalai in Karur district from encroachment. A Division Bench of Justices P. Velmurugan and B. Pugalendhi observed: “The poor deity has no voting rights. On the other hand, the mighty encroachers have valuable votes. In a democratic polity electoral arithmetic sometimes appears to influence administrative resolve. But constitutional governance is not subordinate to electoral expediency.”