THOOTHUKUDI: The Nazareth CSI diocese has appealed to the district administration not to permit the Pathrakaliamman temple management in Vembar to construct a compound wall, on the grounds that it will block the approach road of the St Thomas church. The land, which is being contested, has been disputed for the past 35 years, with the high court pronouncing judgement in favour of the temple.
Authorities of the St Thomas church claim that the 1.15-acre land was procured through a sale deed by the Vembar CSI parish in 1880, while the temple management claims that the land belongs to them. Earlier, the lower court had assessed land revenue records and decreed in favour of the Pathrakaliamman temple. On September 14, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court upheld the lower court's orders and also directed police protection for temple authorities to erect compound walls around their land.
Even as the temple authorities prepared to raise a compound wall based on the court order, the church authorities contested and claimed that the wall would block the approach road to the church and the TDTA elementary school functioning in the church campus.
Speaking to reporters, Thoothukudi-Nazareth CSI diocesan Lay Secretary D Neegar Prince Giftson, in the presence of retired Reverend Timothy Ravinder Moderator's Commissary, appealed for the intervention of the district administration to stop the construction of the wall. The church had ceded five cents of land to Pathrakaliamman temple as per the court order, he said.
However, temple representative Kasiraman denied the claims of the diocese secretary, and stated that the temple holds 1.09 acres in the disputed area. The church does not own any land near the temple, and the same has been proved in the court, he said. The court order was accessed by TNIE, which states that the disputed land belongs to the temple.
The BJP's Vilathikulam Union Secretary Parthiban told TNIE that right from the second appeal to the final judgement, the court's order has been validating the temple's ownership of the land. The church had an approach road on the Periyasamipuram road, which it closed years ago to construct a commercial complex, and the devotees started using the road adjacent to the temple, he said.
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