MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court recently issued a series of directions for the acquisition of a parcel of temple land, which is situated close to the court campus, for public use. A bench of justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan passed the order on a petition filed in 2019 by M Saravanan, who wanted the land parcel to be acquired and used by the high court for building parking and other facilities for the court users.
The judges noted that the registrar general of the Madras High Court in 2021 requested the state government to identify around 10 acres of land close to the Madurai Bench campus, with good road access and other basic facilities. The department had also taken a policy decision to offer 6.49 acres of land opposite the HC and another piece of land measuring three acres along Narasingam Road, both of which were endowed to Kothanda Ramaswamy Temple.
The executive officer of the temple had requested revenue officials to ascertain the market value of the land so as to proceed with the acquisition of the land, but the process is still pending, the judges added. Observing that there is an urgent need for additional land and also considering the fact that the HR and CE department has come forward to sell the land at the market price, the judges ordered the authorities to expedite the land acquisition process with directions to the revenue officials to notify the tentative market price within three weeks. Subsequently, the state government could make arrangements for the payments, the court added.