In a significant development, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has withdrawn a controversial public auction of temple lands belonging to Arulmigu Sivasubramaniam Thirukoil in Hosur, Krishnagiri, following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Madras High Court.
The PIL was filed by BJP functionary P. Baskar, who sought a writ of certiorari to quash the impugned order dated 3 July 2025 through which the auction notice was issued and published in the Malai Murasu newspaper on 4 July 2025.
The matter came up for admission before the First Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice Sunder Mohan. Senior Counsel B. Jagannath appeared for the petitioner, while Special Government Pleader N.R.R. Arun Natarajan represented the HR&CE Department and other state respondents.
During the hearing, the state informed the court that the July auction notification had been cancelled and that, if needed, a fresh auction process would be carried out strictly in accordance with law.
Taking note of this submission, the court recorded the statement and disposed of the writ petition, thereby closing the matter. The court also clarified that since the grievance raised in the PIL has been addressed through cancellation of the impugned auction, there was no further need to pursue the petition.
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