MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday directed the HR and CE department to file a detailed statistical report regarding the immovable properties belonging to Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple, which is situated in Vilathikulam taluk of Thoothukudi.
A bench of justices R Suresh Kumar and KK Ramakrishnan, which gave the direction, further sought a time bound action plan as to how and when the authorities would retrieve the temple's lands, which are still under encroachment. The bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a man, VA Ganesan, challenging an order passed by the HR and CE commissioner to merge the temple, which is a sub temple, with the main temple-Subramaniya Swamy temple of Tiruchendur, due to lack of revenue.
Ganesan alleged that the authorities have not taken any steps to remove the encroachments in the temple's properties, measuring over 1,000 acres, despite an earlier order passed by the court in November 2022. Merely merging the temple without retrieving the lands would not yield any result, he added.
However, the judges noted that no statistics have been submitted before the court regarding the number and extent of lands available with the temple.
They directed the HR and CE department to file a detailed report containing survey numbers, the nature and extent of properties belonging to the above temple, a list of encroachers, along with a time-bound action plan on the steps to be taken to retrieve the encroached lands. Till then, the sub-temple should not be merged with the main temple, they added.
To ensure effective implementation of the order, the judges also suo motu impleaded the Thoothukudi collector, district revenue officer, among others and adjourned the case to April 17.