Many temples in Tamil Nadu were in a state of ruin for want of preservation and funds, observed the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday and restrained the State government from using temple land for any construction. A taluk office was already constructed on the temple land in Tenkasi district.
A Division Bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and S. Ananthi observed that there should be a balance and temple lands have to be protected. The judges issued a show cause notice to the authorities on the takeover of the land for the construction of Taluk office. The court was hearing the petition filed by M. Sankarapandian of Tenkasi district.
In his public interest litigation petition, Mr. Sankarapandian said that the Navaneethakrishna Swamy Temple dates back to over 1,000 years. Without following proper land acquisition laws, three acres of the temple land was acquired to build a taluk office in 2002. There was no proper compensation paid, the petitioner said.
Under these circumstances, authorities were trying to acquire two more acres of the temple land to establish a taluk-level government hospital, he said. The petitioner sought a direction to restrain the authorities from acquiring the temple land. He also sought a direction to the State to pay appropriate compensation for building the taluk office on the temple land. The case was adjourned for further hearing.
