HC seeks reply on 47K acres of ‘missing’ lands

A division bench comprising Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice TV Thamilselvi issued the direction based on an allegation by a petitioner who sought to find out the whereabouts of the land belonging to Arulmigu Avinashiappar and Arulmigu Subramaniasamy temples in Sulur.

“If what the petitioner states is correct, then it is really a shocking fact. If the policy note speaks about the missing of 47,000 acres of lands, the same has to be identified and retrieved to the Hindu religious institutions,” the bench observed, while noting that a similar direction was issued by another division bench with regard to retrieving 4,78,462 acres of land belonging to the Hindu religious institutions.

The bench led by Justice Kirubakaran also directed the then Sulur Sub-Registrar N Elango to file an affidavit stating why he wrote a letter dated November 22, 2019, to Annur Sub-Registrar that these lands did not belong to the temple or government.

The petitioner had sought to remove the encroachment and restore the land to the temples. The plea also claimed that the encroachment has been prevailing since 2010.