The Madras High Court has expressed dissatisfaction with the Tamil Nadu Government for not taking steps to renovate the Veeracholapuram Arthanariswarar temple and creating a fund for the maintenance of the temple.
A collectorate complex is to be built on 14.09 hectares (34.82 acres) of drylands belonging to Sri Arthanareeswarar Temple located at Veerachozhapuram in Kallakurichi district.
However, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Collectorate complex was held on October 23 without purchasing the land from the HR&CE department.
The Chennai High Court, which heard the case filed by Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam against the construction of a collector’s office on the temple land, restrained Tamil Nadu government from construction work and appointed two committees to assess the land.
When petitioner Rangarajan Narasimhan stated that the assessment made by the two committees was also low, the court ordered him to nominate six evaluators.
In this context, when the case came up for hearing again today (Sep. 06) in the session of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Adikesavalu, the petitioners said they could not find the appraisers.
Following this, the Judges directed the Advocate General of Tamil Nadu to nominate appraisers from other states to independently assess the temple land, advising that action should be taken to appoint temple trustees and adjourned the case to September 13.
Earlier, the Judges had expressed dissatisfaction saying that the government had not taken steps to renovate the dilapidated temple and raise funds for its maintenance.
Further, the Judges said that the compensation for the land should be decided first and that the construction work should not be carried out without the permission of the court.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.