Madras High Court Discontinues Special Bench For Idol Theft Cases Citing Limited Backlog

A special bench consisting of Justices R Mahadevan and P D Audiksavalu which was constituted by the Madras High Court to specifically tackle idol theft cases in Tamil Nadu has been disbanded with the reasoning of there being a limited number of such matters left pending now, reports The Times of India.

The same special bench had previously struck down a government order which brought all current and future idol theft matters under the purview of the CBI.

"There are only a few writ petitions / public interest litigations relating to movable properties like theft or disappearance of temple idols, jewels and other valuables owned by the temples, pending in the principal seat in Madras as well as in the Madurai bench of the high court. Therefore, in modification to the notifications dated July 23, 2018 and dated March 21, 2019 published on the cause list of the high court, it is notified that those cases shall be listed before the respective division benches / single benches as per roster," said the Madras High Court’s notification.

Similarly, a previous notification by the court had effected that bail and anticipatory bail applications in idol theft cases would be allocated to the concerned portfolio judges rather than the special bench.