CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Monday upheld a single judge’s order, which dismissed a petition filed by temple activist TR Ramesh challenging the leasing of temple land for constructing a building for an arts and science college by the Mylapore Kapaleeswarar temple trust at Kolathur.
The writ petition, earlier dismissed by the single judge, challenged the advertisement of HR&CE department over leasing of 2.4 acres of land belonging to Somanathaswamy temple at Kolathur for 25 years, at a monthly rental of Rs 3.19 lakh.
The petitioner objected the lease on certain grounds, including that the rental amount was not fixed by taking into account the guideline value and therefore it has resulted in a loss of Rs 1.93 lakh per month for the temple.
The single judge dismissed the petition on the ground that the objective to lease being a benevolent one, the procedural irregularities or deviations would not vitiate the purpose.
A division bench of justices R Subramanian and C Kumarappan, on Monday, dismissed Ramesh’s appeal saying it is not a fit case for the court to interfere.