CHENNAI: A 125-year-old church built during the British era on Dhanakottiraja Street in Ekkattuthangal will see the footfall of hundreds of Christians in the area again shortly, thanks to the first bench of the Madras High Court, which passed an oral order to this effect, on Monday.
According to Samuel Savio, parish priest, who is the petitioner in the case, closure of St Antony Church had hurt the religious sentiments of about 400 Christian families living in the area. The re-opening will enable them to offer their prayers at the premises during the current holy week comprising Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
The first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar, before which the PIL came up for hearing on Monday, pointed out that the Good Friday was falling on April 14 and Ester Sunday on April 16. Hence, it is imperative that the church should be de-sealed to enable the devotees to offer prayers at the church during the holy week, it orally observed and posted the matter for further hearing on Tuesday. The bench also directed the counsel for Housing and Urban Development, Commissioner of Corporation of Chennai and member-secretary of the CMDA to obtain instructions in this regard and produce the copies of the earlier orders of the High Court in the previous writ and contempt petitions.
According to petitioner, the church was functioning at the location for 125 years and the land was classified as ‘sarkar poromboke’ in government records. It was originally built with mud walls, roof with palmyrah rafters, bamboo reapers and old country tiles. The church was in a dilapidated condition and hence the parish priest of St Thomas Mount undertook renovation and the building was strengthened with cemented brick walls and asbestos roof sheet, in 1964. Electricity connection was obtained in February 1977. Every year, on June 13, the church celebrates St Antony’s Feast and conducts car procession,” he said.
Meanwhile, one Raguraman and his family members filed a writ petition against the District Collector and others alleging that land grabbers, in the guise of construction of church, grabbed the government land. Though the petitioner was aware that the church was in existence for decades, he did not include it as party to the case. Based on these suppressed averments, he obtained the lock-and-seal order, petitioner alleged. However, after personal hearing in an appeal filed by the church, an order was passed by the Housing and Urban Development department stating that the church was not constructed on poromboke land and there was no encroachment. The de-occupation notice was stayed on April 11, 2016 giving six months’ time to the church to complete legal formalities for alienation of the land in its favour.
A representation was sent to the Chennai Corporation Commissioner and the CMDA informing them about the pending revision petition and requesting extension of stay which was already in existence for the 717 sq. ft structure, in December 2016. While the representation for patta and planning approval is pending, the authorities of Chennai Corporation, as a follow-up action on the contempt petition, came to the church and locked and sealed the premises in January 2017. Hence, the present PIL.