The Madras High Court Bench here on Tuesday provided a breather to a 80-year-old Christian shrine situated atop a hillock at Andipatti pass on Madurai-Theni district border, from being demolished by directing the Usilampatti Tahsildar to consider granting ‘patta’ (land ownership document) to the Parish Priest of Infant Jesus Church under the Arch Diocese of Madurai.
Justice B. Rajendran passed the order on a writ petition filed by the priest, Rev.Fr. A. Joseph, who claimed that the Tahsildar had decided to demolish the shrine and remove other structures with police assistance following a representation made to him by K.M. Muneeswaran, Madurai (Rural) district president of Hindu Makkal Katchi, on December 23, 2014.
According to the petitioner’s counsel, Isaac Mohanlal, Fr. Clement Montard, a Christian missionary, had found a Cross atop the hill while crossing a pass at Thottappanayakanur in 1935 and started worshipping over there.
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Many others followed suit and over the years, Annai Velankanni Shrine was established in the foothills.
In 1981, one of the devotees renovated the shrine and the Parish provided basic facilities such as toilets, kitchens and dining halls. In 1983, an application was made to the then Collector of Madurai seeking patta for the property.
Though the Collector ordered an inspection of the property by the revenue officials, the patta was not issued till date.
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However, claiming that the revenue officials had now begun to take coercive action following a representation by the office-bearer of Hindu Makkal Katchi, the counsel pointed out that a huge posse of policemen along with bulldozers had been stationed near the shrine even as the present writ petition had been listed for hearing in the High Court.