Remove encroachments from temple land in Avadi, High Court tells State

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to remove encroachments made on 134 acres of land owned by the Th iruvenk at a mu day an Venkatesaperumal temple in Avadi on the outskirts of Chennai.

Justice SM Subramaniam passed the direction after hearing a petition filed by A Radhakrishnan, which asked for a direction to implement the order of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) commissioner to survey and remove encroachments made on the temple land.

“The HR & CE department is directed to survey the lands owned by the Th iruvenk at a mu day an

Venkatesaperumal temple in Vellanoor village, Avadi. If there was any encroachment made on 134 acres of land, the government shall take steps to remove them,” the judge observed.

The government advocate, appearing for the HR & CE, said that the government has started surveying the concerned temple land and encroachments were made by several people. The temple management also made a similar submission that actions had been taken by the HR & CE to remove encroachments and it would be completed soon.

The petitioner submitted that when the HR & CE commissioner directed the assistant commissioner to inquire into the encroachment issue, the assistant commissioner made a report which said that several lands were encroached.

“When I approached the temple manager to remove the encroachments, there was no response from the temple’s side to recover the lands which have been registered by several private parties with fake patta documents,” the petitioner submitted.