India, Jan. 7 -- The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday upheld a single judge's order allowing the lighting of a lamp on the Thirupparankundram hill, and slammed the State Government, calling "ridiculous" its claim that lighting of the lamp will disrupt public peace. A Division Bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan delivered the judgment, clarifying that the spot where the stone pillar is located belongs to the temple.

The appellants failed to produce "formidable evidence" to show that Agama Sastra of Saivites prohibits lighting the lamp at a place, which is not straight on top of the deity in the sanctum sanctorum, the court observed. "... Nor is it the case of the management or the Government that lighting...