K.A. Chandran, President of the Malabar Devaswom Board, has said that he has directed the Devaswom Commissioner to take steps to resume 278 hectares of Elaka Estate at Akamalavaram, which belonged to the Kallekulangara Emoor Bhagavathy temple, in the district.
Mr. Chandran told The Hindu here on Tuesday that he had alerted the Chief Conservator of Forests, Eastern Circle, to the cutting down of trees on the estate. Since it was a forest area, the Forest Department should stop the felling of trees.
The Kerala High Court had ordered the District Collector to take over the estate as its lease expired in 1997. But the estate was still with the leaseholder. The Board would take up the matter with the government.
He said the Board would take steps to take back all lease-expired and -violated Devaswom land in Malabar. An estimated 12,000 hectares of land belonging to various temples in Malabar had got alienated, and steps would be taken, with the help of the government, to get it back.
He said the government’s help would be sought to get the land owned by temples surveyed and sketched. The previous Board had given a report to the government on lease-expired and -violated land of the temples. The new Board would pursue the matter to get back the land.
He said the Malabar Devaswom Board had 1,356 temples under it.
