During the hearing of the Deepam lighting dispute in Thirupparankundram, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court proposed allowing a group of five individuals chosen by the court to go to the hilltop pillar known as Deepathoon and give symbolic prayers for fifteen minutes.

Even though the District Collector claimed in his additional affidavit that the prohibitory order issued under Section 163 of the BNSS was only intended to prevent any law and order situation and did not intend to obstruct temple officials from lighting the Deepam in accordance with the December 1 order, Justice GR Swaminathan stated that the court's directive could not be carried out in practice.

The judge noted, "The proof of the pudding lies in eating," pointing out that the police had used the Collector's order as cover to thwart the court's order.
The contempt suit claimed that the previous direction regarding the lighting of the Deepam at the hills close to the Arulmigu Subramania Swamy Temple had been willfully disregarded.
Madurai District Collector KJ Praveenkumar stated in his affidavit that the only thing he kept in mind was that the devaswom or temple management could only carry out the High Court's ruling provided there was no disturbance in the hilltop area.In line with the ruling, he argued, the prohibitory order "definitely did not contemplate hindrance" to temple officials lighting the lamp.
The temple administration had previously claimed that the Karthigai lamp has only been lit close to the Uchi Pillayar temple atop the hill for more than a century and that the custom could not be changed against the wishes of devotees. The earlier single judge's judgment allowing the Deepam to be lit at the designated pillar had been affirmed by a Division Bench of the High Court.
While recommending the five-person symbolic prayer formula, the court made it clear that this was merely a suggestion to honor its previous order and not a legally obligatory directive.The state's senior attorney requested time to get instructions. "We have not received instructions from the government," a state government senior counsel told NDTV.
The Collector was excused from making a personal appearance during the hearings and offered an unqualified apologies for the second time in the contempt plea. Senior police officers were ordered by the court to attend on the following date.
The following hearing is scheduled for March 4.
A separate plea requesting the start of contempt proceedings against Tamil Nadu Minister Regupathy was also closed by the court, emphasizing that it might be opened at any time.