Madras HC summons HR&CE officials

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed four officials, including the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, to appear in person and submit their explanations on January 12.

The direction came in a contempt of court case relating to the delay in taking action to recover temple lands, pertaining to lands belonging to the Chinna Kesava Perumal temple in Perambattu village in Tirupattur. A petition was filed before the HC seeking the recovery of the temple’s properties.

While hearing the matter in September 2023, the HC had directed the HR&CE department to take steps to recover all properties belonging to the temple within six months. Alleging non-compliance with this order, S Natarajan filed a contempt petition against the HR&CE Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner of the department in Vellore, and the HR&CE Inspector in Tirupattur.

Hearing the contempt petition, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan directed the HR&CE Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner, and the Inspector to appear in person on January 12 and explain why the court’s order had not been implemented within the stipulated period.

The bench also directed the Tirupattur tahsildar, who allegedly delayed transferring the patta of the lands in the name of the temple for more than a year, to appear in person and submit an explanation.