CHENNAI: The Madras High Court closed a contempt petition after accepting a report filed by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department stating that it has recovered lands worth Rs 700 crore, belonging to the Tiruporur Kandaswamy temple, from encroachers.
B Jagannath had filed a petition stating that about 550 acres of land belonging to the Kandaswamy temple in Tiruporur and the Alavandar Naicker Charties Trust were under encroachment, and sought directions to recover the lands.
While hearing the matter earlier, the High Court had passed an order directing that the encroachments be removed by May 2022. Alleging that the encroachments had not been cleared despite the court's order, Jagannath filed a contempt of court petition.
When the contempt petition came up for hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice MM Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, HR&CE Commissioner PN Sridhar and the Executive Officer of the Tiruporur Kandaswamy temple, Kumaravel, appeared in person before the court.
A report was submitted on behalf of the HR&CE Department stating that 226 acres of agricultural land belonging to the Kandaswamy temple, valued at Rs 700 crore, had been recovered from encroachment.
Accepting the report, the judges closed the contempt proceedings.