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HC stays contempt proceedings initiated against HR&CE chief

The bench comprising Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice AD Jagadish Chandira passed the interim injunction on hearing an appeal filed by the HR&CE commissioner.

HC stays contempt proceedings initiated against HR&CE chief
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Madras High Court

CHENNAI: A division bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday passed an interim stay on an order passed by a single judge last month directing the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department commissioner to pay Rs.1 lakh as a penalty for not implementing the court order.

The single judge passed the order on charges of non-implementation of the HC order passed in June 2021 to retrieve the lands of Arulmigu Choolai Sokka Vel Subramaniyar temple and Angalaparameswari Kasi Viswanathar Temple in Chennai.

The bench comprising Justice S Vaidyanathan and Justice AD Jagadish Chandira passed the interim injunction on hearing an appeal filed by the HR&CE commissioner.

Additional Advocate General (AAG) J Ravindran, appearing for the appellant officer submitted that the single judge had erroneously passed the order since the HR&CE commissioner was not even arrayed as a respondent in the case.

“The single judge who heard the original petition had passed the direction to the department to recover the temple land in June 2021, had not arrayed the HR&CE commissioner as a respondent. However, while hearing the contempt petition, the judge had added the officer as a respondent and imposed the cost which is against the natural justice,” the AAG submitted.

Concurring with the submissions made by the AAG, the judges passed an interim stay on the order passed by the single judge in July.

Recently, Justice Anita Sumanth imposed Rs 1 lakh on HR and CE commissioner and Rs 50,000 on HR and CE’s Joint Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner each. The order was passed on a contempt petition filed by B Sukumar, a resident of Choolai who alleged that the petitioners failed to recover the temple land as per the Choolai June 2021 order of the HC.

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