CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the State to file a detailed report on a plea moved by a devotee of the Kancheepuram Arulmigu Kasiviswanathar and Venugopala Swamy temple seeking a direction to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board to identify the 177 acres of land owned by the temple, remove encroachments and restore its possession to the temple authorities.
According to the petitioner, the temple was established in 1884 when a local resident had transferred a total of 177.77 acres of land for the purpose. In 2008, the temple authorities approached the High Court with a plea seeking patta to the above land and the court also accepted the plea. Even though they requested the assistant settlement office to issue patta, their application was rejected.
The court had then asked the officials concerned to submit all the particulars about the land to the temple authorities. Though an enquiry in this regard was held long back, the property was never transferred to the temple authorities, argued the petitioner. The petitioner also sought the court to take action against the erring officials. The matter was adjourned to November 27.