Temple reclaims encroached land, IAS officers apologise in contempt case

After 50 years of struggle, a 3.40-acre land parcel in Koothapakkam village of Cuddalore district, belonging to the historic Devanatha Swamy Temple in Tiruvahindapuram, is finally back in the temple’s possession. The land, which had been encroached upon by a private school for nearly five decades, is now set to be restored to the temple administration following a High Court intervention and a contempt petition.

The issue came to a head in a contempt of court case where five senior IAS officers appeared in person before the Madras High Court and tendered an unconditional apology for failing to implement an earlier court order.

The land had been under the unauthorized occupation of St. Joseph’s Matriculation Higher Secondary School. Vinoth Rajendran, Tamil Nadu State Secretary of the BJP’s Spiritual and Temple Development Wing, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking to remove the school and return the land to the temple.

In 2023, the Madras High Court directed the state government to relocate the school and hand over the land to the Devanatha Swamy Temple. When this order remained unimplemented, a contempt petition was filed.

Those named in the contempt case included Amudha (Secretary, Revenue Department), Madhumathi (Secretary, School Education Department), Chandramohan (Secretary, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department), Sridhar (Commissioner, HR&CE), Cuddalore District Collector C.B. Aditya Senthil Kumar, HR&CE Joint Commissioner Parantharan, and Temple Executive Officer Venkata Krishnan.

Acting on the court’s direction, these officials appeared before a division bench comprising Chief Justice K.R. Sriram and Justice Sundar Mohan and submitted affidavits of apology for not executing the court’s directive.

Commenting on the development, Nachiappan, President of the Tamil Nadu BJP’s Spiritual and Temple Development Wing, said, “It was a legal battle for over five decades. The school was built on encroached temple land nearly 50 years ago, and a statue of Mary was also installed. Repeated requests asking them to vacate the premises were ignored. Several legal battles were fought since then.”

“Eventually, things materialised in 2023 when we got a verdict in our favour. But sadly, it was not implemented by the officials. Everything came to a good end only after we filed a contempt case against them, and the officials finally appeared in court and promised to set things right immediately.”

During the court proceedings, Senior Additional Advocate General Ravindran, representing the state government, stated that alternative land measuring 4.73 acres in Periyapattu village, Bhuvanagiri Taluk, had been allotted for the school. However, the school management objected, citing lack of road access and the site’s distance—32 km away from the current location. They requested a location within a 5 km radius of Cuddalore town.