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Temple land worth ₹150 crore located on Valluvar Kottam Road and owned by Agathiswarar Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal has been reclaimed from encroachers by the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department.
The Agasthiswarar Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal Temple is located in Nungambakkam, Chennai. The temple owns properties worth several crore rupees, including a vacant lot, a shop and a house. Some of the properties were leased out to tenants. However, the 15 grounds of land located on the Valluvar Kottam road had been encroached by commercial buildings and apartments, and had not paid rent for the past 30 years. They had to pay ₹11 crore in rent arrears and had not paid them despite several notices.
A petition was filed by the temple management in the High Court following which the Court on December 16 last year, ordered the recovery of the temple property. Based on the Court’s order, the HR&CE department removed the encroachers and took possession of the property. Residents of the buildings then got into an argument with the authorities leading to a commotion. However, police were brought in to ease the tension and the lands were taken over in the presence of Revenue Department, HR&CE Department and the public.