TIRUCHY: HR&CE officials from Karur on Friday distributed notices to the encroachers who reside in the Vennaimalai Balasubramanian temple land as per the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court.
The residents from Chinna Vadugapatti in Karur had been living on the land owned by the Vennaimalai Arulmigu Balasubramanian Swamy temple since 1962, and they had purchased 560 acres of temple land through the revenue department, and they had also obtained a patta for the land.
In this scenario, the Thiruthondar Trust Founder Radhakrishnan filed a public litigation with the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court in 2018 to retrieve the temple land, and the court had recently directed the HR&CE department to retrieve the land. The court also warned legal action against the Karur District Collector and the Superintendent of Police if the land was not retrieved.
Based on the court direction, the HR&CE officials commenced the retrieval of the temple land. Despite a few residents approaching the court, the HR&CE continued the process of retrieving the temple land.
On Friday, the HR&CE officials, headed by Assistant Commissioner Ganapathy Murugan, along with ASP Prabakaran, Deputy Tahsildhar Maheswari, went to the Vennaimalai bazaar and retrieved three cents of land from one Panneer Selvam and placed a warning board.
Similarly, the officials served notices to as many as 10 residents to pay the rental to the temple immediately or else they would face action. The residents attempted to argue with the officials, but the officials cited the court's direction.