The Madras High Court has asked four government officials, including the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department, to appear in person on January 12 and explain the delay in recovering temple lands.
The direction was issued in a contempt of court case linked to properties belonging to the Chinna Kesava Perumal Temple at Perambattu village in Tirupattur district. A petition had earlier been filed seeking the retrieval of lands owned by the temple.
In September 2023, the High Court had instructed the HR&CE Department to complete the process of recovering all temple properties within six months. However, alleging that the order was not followed, petitioner S. Natarajan moved the court with a contempt plea against the HR&CE Commissioner, the department’s Joint Commissioner in Vellore, and the HR&CE Inspector in Tirupattur.
While hearing the petition, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan directed the three HR&CE officials to be present before the court and clarify why the earlier order had not been carried out within the stipulated time.
The bench also summoned the Tirupattur tahsildar, citing allegations that the official had delayed transferring the patta in the temple’s name for over a year. The case has been posted for further hearing on January 12.