PUDUCHERRY: In the wake of a multi-crore temple land scam coming to the fore, Lieutenant Governor K. Kalaishnathan has directed officials for a comprehensive survey of temple properties to ensure their proper maintenance.
He is actively overseeing the investigation into the multi-crore land scam of Sri Parvatheeswarar Swamy Devasthanam temple in Kovilpattu, Karaikal unearthed last week. Several officials, including District Deputy Collector (Revenue) Johnson and Deputy Surveyor of Karaikal Renugadevi, a land broker K. Sivaraman, and P. Thirumalai Rajan, an office worker, were arrested last week. The police are looking for JCP Anandh, a key accused in the case.
The scam, which involved the creation of fake documents to fraudulently sell temple land, was uncovered through a Special Investigation Team (SIT) conducted by Karaikal District Collector D. Manikandan and District Chief Superintendent of Police Manish, according to a Raj Nivas release. The accused made moves to sell land by making around 180 plots adjacent to the land acquired for the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) project and allegedly collected around Rs 3 crore from 100 persons with the motive to sell the land.
Following their inquiry, a case was registered, and the implicated officials were arrested and remanded to judicial custody.
The Lt. Governor expressed serious concern over the scale of the scam, which has caused significant disruption within Puducherry’s government administration. In response, he has directed the District Collector to ensure that the investigation is conducted with complete integrity, leaving no room for further misconduct.
Further, the Lt. Governor emphasised that not only the Karaikal Kovilpathu Sri Parvatheeswarar temple land scam but also any similar fraud involving temple lands would not be tolerated. He directed the administration for immediate steps to reclaim the lands and return them to the temple administration. Additionally, the Revenue, Land Survey, Deed Registration, and Hindu Religious Institution departments have been instructed to exercise increased vigilance to prevent such fraudulent activities in the future.
He directed the authorities to create public awareness about these land scams and encouraged citizens to come forward to identify and expose fraudulent activities.
It may be recalled that last year Kamatchiamman temple land grabbing case in Puducherry was unearthed in which two senior officials, Ramesh (who served as Director of Survey, Settlement and Land Records) and D. Balaji (who served as Director of Fisheries) were arrested .