The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, continuing hearing of the petitions that sought removal of encroachment from temple lands in Karur, on Thursday called for status reports from the Collector.
A division bench of Justices T. S. Sivagnanam and R. Tharani, hearing the petition for removal of encroachments from the Balasubramaniaswami Temple, directed the Collector to form an inspection team and verify the encroachments on all parameters. The court called for a status report within four weeks.
The court, which heard a plea seeking removal of the Collectorate building from the land of Kalyana Venkataramanaswami Temple in Thanthoni, observed that to remove the building after funds were spent towards its construction would be against public interest.
The district authorities submitted before the court that a total of ₹1.3 crore could be paid as compensation. The HC had earlier directed them to prepare an estimate for compensation. It felt that the estimate was grossly inadequate and sought a counter affidavit to be filed by the Collector.
A. Radhakrishnan had filed both the petitions seeking removal of encroachments from temple lands. He had earlier submitted that the Balasubramanyaswami Temple lands were encroached upon and fraudulent documents were obtained to claim ownership.
He also filed a petition seeking the removal of the Collectorate building from the land of Kalyana Venkataramanaswami Temple in Thanthoni. He said the Revenue department acquired the land for construction of Collectorate but it was not proper and legal. He sought the removal of the structure and compensation in the form of rent as interim relief.
The court posted both the cases for further hearing on March 26.
