Immediately after Salai Aandavargal attained Mahasamādhi on 12.02.1976, during the late 1970s and the 1980s, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR & CE), Tamil Nadu, had attempted to take control of the Ponnaranga Devalayam Temple, which was heavily contested by the Temple before the Hon'ble High Court of Madras in Writ Appeal No. 151 of 1977, wherein the Hon'ble First Bench of the Madras High Court, vide an Order dated 23.09.1985, directed the department to make a decision under Section 63(a) of the HR&CE Act (Act 22 of 1959, Tamil Nadu) whether the Ponnuranga Devalayam Temple is a Hindu temple or not, before proceeding any further. As such, the case was contested by the Temple before the Deputy Commissioner of HR&CE Department in O.A. No. 69 of 1985, during which, depositions were obtained from several members of the community, who originally belonged to various religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam. Notably, several leading lawyers were followers of this Religion. One Meivazhi Kailai Anandhar, a Hindu by birth and leading criminal lawyer of that time, was the president of the Association till 1974 One Meivazhi Gowshal Anandar, a Muslim by birth and another leading criminal lawyer, who was the chairman of the Wakf Board; Justice Suryamurty, a retired Judge of the Hon'ble High Court, were all part of this Religion. It was noted in the proceedings that the Ponnuranga Devalayam and Meivazhi sabha were not exclusively intended for the Hindus alone, but non-Hindus also. It was observed in the proceedings that all the followers of Meivazhi Andavar have been strictly adopting the principles and regulations and mode of living, religious rituals, ceremonies, conducting of marriages, conducting of obsequies after death, as enumerated in their four sacred books, and that it is quite different from the regulations and the rituals to be followed by the Hindus at the time of religious ceremonies, like marriages, etc., It was further observed that the institution Ponnuranga Devalayam does not have any Thuvajasthambam, praharam, gopuram and Vimaanam, etc., which are normal features for a Hindu Temple. Ultimately, the proceedings were concluded vide an Order dated 03.04.1986, holding that the Ponnuranga Devalayam and the Meivazhi sabha do not come under the purview of the HR&CE Act, (Act 22 of 1959, Tamil Nadu). This was also confirmed by the Hon'ble High Court of Madras in Writ Petition (Madurai) No. 13175 of 2012.
