MADURAI: Pursuant to a summon issued by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to the state chief secretary over delay in disbursement of funds for the acquisition of temple land for high court expansion project, the state government informed the court on Wednesday that the amount has been released.
Additional Advocate General R Baskaran told a bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan that a G.O. was passed on August 11 granting administrative and financial sanction for Rs 25.4 crore towards land acquisition. Further steps are being taken and the award would be finalised by September 20, he added.
Recording this, the judges directed the government to submit a response along with a timeline on the steps to be taken to complete the acquisition process. The case was adjourned to August 22.
The directions were issued on a batch of petitions filed in connection with the said land, which is situated opposite the court premises. Though the court had been urging the government to provide the land for its use for over three years, there was no significant progress in the matter, even after serious observations made by the court in April.
Criticising the government for being “insensitive” to the need of the judiciary, the bench last week summoned the chief secretary if the fund is not released.