The Madras High Court on Tuesday asked the state government to file a status report of 47,000 acres of temple land reportedly missing from government records since the policy note for 1984-85 states indicated that there were 5.25 lakh acres whereas the note for 2019-20 refers to availability of only 4.78 lakh acres.

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.

The Court observed that it prima facie appeared that the 47,000 acres of temple land were missing when compared to the figures provided in the two policy notes 35 years apart.

The Madras High Court also ordered the Tamil Nadu government to take notice on behalf of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR&CE) and ordered them to respond by July 5.

The judges suggested that it should not be difficult for the HR&CE department to submit the information in court since it was expected to be in possession of all those details. Therefore, they insisted that the government should file a counter affidavit with specific details and survey numbers of the lands mentioned in the policy note.

The petitioner insisted that the land possession should be restored, which they claim is under encroachment since 2010, so that the income derived from them could be used to maintain the institutions besides performing prayers and rituals.

Image Source: TOI