The Madras High Court will be issuing the order on May 15th for the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that was filed before the bench to seek the court's directive to re-open the temples and the religious places in Tamil Nadu amid the lockdown. 

The litigation was filed by Social Activist Jaleel of Thirumangalam, Chennai in which he has sought the directive from the High court to the Tamil Nadu state government to resume the services of the religious places such as temples, mosques, and churches. The petitioner said that the people would stand in the queue by maintaining the social distancing norms.

He stated that the government has failed to re-open the places of worship while it has consented to the resumption of the TASMAC liquor shops. Liquor shops aren't essential but the religious places give peace to the people, he added. The petitioner further stated that the people who follow Islam have been finding it difficult to offer prayers during the Ramzan month as the lockdown has closed the mosques and restricted the people gathering. 

By citing these, the petitioner has asked the Madras High Court to issue the order to the Tamil Nadu state government to re-open the places of worship. According to the reports, the petition came up for hearing before the bench comprised of Justices Vineeth Kothari and Pushpa Sathyanarayana and upon the hearing, the bench said that the order will be passed on this litigation on May 15th. 

The religious places and the places of worship are one of the places that would report huge people gatherings and these places remain closed since March 24 in the wake of the nationwide lockdown that was imposed to tackle the spread of the human to human transmitting virus (COVID-19). The extended lockdown will be in place till May 17 following which the Center would issue the fresh guidelines on whether or not to resume the closed services.

The Tamil Nadu government hasn't poured any relaxations on the restrictions imposed on the places of worship. Schools, colleges, other educational institutions, recreational clubs, malls, cinema halls, and the places of public gatherings are being closed. On Monday, the state had seen the partial resumption of the tea stalls, fuel stations, standalone shops, and private offices.