A long-running dispute over 177.7 acres of prime temple land near Poonamallee – home to the historic Kasi Viswanathar and Sri Venugopalaswamy Temples, has taken a serious turn, with allegations that Queensland Amusement Park is destroying government records to solidify its hold on the property, allegedly with the help of officials.
Background
Selvaraj, popularly known as ‘Oorvasi’ Selvaraj founded the Oorvasi Soap Company, Queensland Amusement Park, and King’s Engineering College. Politically well-connected, he served as Vice President of the South Chennai unit of the Indian National Congress from 1990 to 1997, and later, as MLA from Srivaikuntam in 2006. At the time, sworn affidavits ranked him as the third-richest MLA in the Tamil Nadu Assembly—behind only Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa. Selvaraj passed away in 2009, and his wife, Nalini Selvaraj, is now a prominent Christian evangelist.
Selvaraj had leased the temple land in 1991 under the pretext of carrying out farming activities.
The land, located on the Chennai–Bengaluru National Highway, was leased in 1991 to the late “Oorvasi” D. Selvaraj for farming purposes. Instead, the site was converted into a large commercial amusement park and, a kilometre away, the St. John’s International Residential School, both operating in defiance of multiple court orders.
In 2008, a local court upheld the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department’s eviction notice, ruling that the lease had been violated. An appeal was dismissed in 2013. Yet, more than a decade later, neither Queensland nor the school has vacated the premises, and the temples remain in a dilapidated state.
Legal Dispute And Court Relief
While the HR&CE Department had issued an eviction notice in 2008—later upheld by a local court and with an appeal dismissed in 2013—the case took a fresh turn in June 2022.
The Madras High Court set aside an HR&CE notice to Queensland Amusement Park seeking its eviction from 21.06 acres of land at Pappanchatram in Sriperumbudur Taluk, on grounds that an appeal over ownership rights was still pending before the Commissioner of Land Administration (CLA).
Justice V.M. Velumani observed that the rights to the land would be governed by the outcome of the pending appeal, in line with an earlier October 29, 2021 High Court order.
The petitioners—Nalini Selvaraj and others—argued they had leased the land from HR&CE in 1995, but the government had declared it ‘anatheenam land’ in 1997, leading the Revenue Department to demand rent. The temples’ request for patta had been rejected by the Assistant Settlement Officer in Tirupattur and twice by the Kancheepuram Collector, prompting the matter to be taken up before the CLA.
Amid the dispute, the park management offered to provide alternative land to the government in exchange for retaining the land it occupies.
Fresh Allegations Of Tampering
The latest claim, reported by Junior Vikatan, is that the company is now actively destroying or altering government documents to erase evidence of the temple’s ownership, allegedly with the cooperation of officials in the HR&CE Department. Critics say the inaction by the department over the years, despite repeated petitions from priests and devotees, raises troubling questions about collusion.
மிஸ்டர் கழுகு!#MisterKazhugu | #JuniorVikatan pic.twitter.com/41SA7lyURP
— @JuniorVikatan (@JuniorVikatan) August 13, 2025
Temples In Ruin While Commercial Entities Profit
While the amusement park and school flourish, the temples they displaced are struggling to survive. There is no compound wall, the structures are crumbling, and cattle freely wander into the premises. The priests’ quarters, marriage halls (mandapams), and once-active community spaces lie in ruins.
Doraiswamy Gurukkal, priest at the Kasi Viswanathar Temple since 1974, recalled when Sri Chandrasekhara Saraswathi Swamigal of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt would stay at the temple for 15 days each year. “Now goats and cows roam where great saints once performed pooja,” he laments.
Both temples together own the 177.7 acres, part of a larger tract originally donated in the 19th century by zamindar Venkaiah, who built the shrines. The land was intended to provide sustainable income for maintenance and daily rituals. Today, however, priests report earning as little as ₹300 per month from the HR&CE, with arrears of five years.
Questionable Safety Record
Queensland has faced its share of controversies beyond the land dispute. In January 2014, a giant wheel malfunction injured 18 people; the case was filed but never followed up publicly. In another incident a year later, a schoolboy drowned in the park’s pool. Despite these incidents, and the fact that the park was ordered to vacate, it continues to operate.
The central question now is whether authorities will investigate the allegations of document destruction and collusion, or whether the ₹200-crore land grab will remain yet another unresolved chapter in Tamil Nadu’s long list of temple land disputes.
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