HR&CE commissioner seeks 2 months to recover encroached Karur temple land

MADURAI: The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Commissioner on Thursday sought two months from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court to complete the proceedings for recovering encroached lands belonging to the Kalyana Pasupatheeswarar Temple in Karur.

Appearing in person, HR&CE Commissioner TG Vinay submitted a status report detailing the action taken by the department. He sought two more months to complete the proceedings and implement the court's directions.

A Division Bench of Justices P Velmurugan and KK Ramakrishnan questioned the frequent transfers of HR&CE Commissioners and observed that, despite the changes in officials, there appeared to have been little progress in the matter. The judges directed the authorities to ensure that the court's orders were properly implemented.

The Court issued this direction on a petition filed in 2018 by Radhakrishnan, founder of the Thiruthondargal Sabha. The temple originally owned 3,054 acres of land, but only 150 acres had so far been identified, and those lands too had been encroached upon, as per the plea.

According to the petitioner, the encroached properties were worth more than Rs 200 crore and had been occupied by people who had constructed commercial complexes and residential buildings on them. He alleged that despite repeated representations to the HR&CE Department and the district administration, no effective action had been taken to remove the encroachments.

The High Court had earlier directed the authorities to issue notices to the occupants, give them sufficient time to submit their objections and supporting documents, and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law. If the encroachments were established, the authorities were directed to remove them after following due process. The court had ordered that the exercise be completed within 12 weeks.

In his status report, the Commissioner said that the department had issued notices to 156 persons in three batches between December 2022 and March 2024. Following an inquiry, the Joint Commissioner, Tirupur, passed final orders against 151 persons. Of them, 22 had exchanged their lands with the temple, and the exchanged properties were now in the temple's possession.

The remaining 129 persons were directed to vacate and hand over possession of their properties to the temple within 30 days. However, revision petitions had been filed before the HR&CE Commissioner in respect of 101 properties. The report stated that possession had not been handed over in any of the 129 cases, citing the pendency of the revision proceedings.

The Commissioner informed the court that hearings had been conducted on the revision petitions on several dates and that the remaining matters had been adjourned to November 10. He assured the court that the inquiry would be completed and orders passed within two months.

The report also referred to a separate dispute involving 1.51 acres of temple land, which is pending before the Supreme Court. According to the Commissioner, the Supreme Court had orally directed the State not to disturb the petitioners' possession, and the matter was posted for hearing on December 11.

The judges then adjourned the case, directing the authorities to implement the earlier orders properly.