In a victory for temple actvisits, the Madras High Court has asked the Tamil Nadu government to halt the construction of Kallakurichi district collectorate complex on the lands belonging to Sri Nareeswarar Temple in Veeracholapuram.
The decision was given by the High Court bench, comprising Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha, staying the construction of the collectorate after several devotees and Hindu organizations registered their objections with the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department and subsequently filed a case.
14.09 hectares (34.82 acres) of drylands belonging to Sri Arthanareeswarar Temple located at Veerachozhapuram in Kallakurichi district was slated to be alienated by the HR&CE department to the Government of Tamil Nadu to build the Kallakurichi Collectorate complex.
This land is set to be usurped by the Tamil Nadu government for a pittance of ₹1.98 crores when the actual value of the property amounts to more than ₹88 crores.
The HR&CE department itself had earlier said that the value of the 40 acres land is around ₹29.17 crores. The land if sold should done at a rate 275% more than the this rate which comes to ₹80.21 crores.
However, on September 19, a government order was passed by the HRCE Commissioner that the lands were being sold at a meagre ₹1.98 crore.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Collectorate complex was held on October 23 without purchasing the land from the HR&CE department.
Locals and devotees questioned if whether the Collectorate should be built only by usurping the temple land and whether no area was available.
After the issue came to light through social media, the HR&CE held a public hearing on October 29, a move taken after lands were handed over to the government.
During the hearing in the court, the government pleader Jayaprakash Narayanan submitted that only road leading to the land was constructed and no other work had commenced.
Issuing a stay order, the court has posted for the matter to be heard on December 9.
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