MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday restrained the Registration department from registering any documents relating to 3,085 acres of land belonging to various temples in Karur district, after the State government lifted an earlier ban on property registration.

A division bench of Justices P Velmurugan and KK Ramakrishnan passed the interim order on a petition filed by Radhakrishnan, a trustee of Thiruthondargal Trust, seeking to quash the government order that lifted the ban on registration of the temple lands.

Radhakrishnan submitted that valuable properties belonging to several prominent temples in Karur district, including Balasubramanya Swamy temple, Kalyana Pasupatheeswarar temple and Raveeshwarar temple, were spread across 15 villages. Pattas had been issued in the names of 3,390 individuals in respect of these lands. Registration of documents relating to the properties had earlier been prohibited, the petitioner said.

However, the government recently issued an order lifting the ban on registration of around 3,085 acres of temple land. He contended that this could pave the way for the transfer of pattas and sought to quash the government order and restrain registration of the properties.

The Court gave an opportunity to the government and other parties to file their counter-affidavit, passed an interim order and adjourned the case.