CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has warned a petitioner of slapping a fine for dragging all government department authorities in connection with a plea seeking to form a committee and survey temple land and waterbodies in Krishnagiri district.
A Radhakrishnan, a rights activist from Kannakurichi in Salem, had filed a writ petition praying for orders to form a multi-departmental committee to carry out a survey of temple land, public land and waterbodies. He prayed for orders to hold a survey because no proper documents and survey reports were found when he went for a field check. The list of respondents, numbering 44, looked long as it had secretaries of all government departments starting from the Public Secretary to the Local Assistant Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department.
The petitioner earned the wrath of the bench, comprising Justices R Mahadevan and Abdul Quddhose, when the matter came up before the bench up recently. The bench warned him of slapping with a fine of `1 lakh for unnecessarily dragging all the government departments. Later, it condoned him after he agreed to withdraw the petition with the long list of respondents.