Chennai, 15 December (H.S.) : The Madras High Court has ordered four officials, including the Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department, to appear in person on January twelve to explain their failure to comply with a previous court directive.
The summons was issued during the hearing of a contempt of court petition related to the prolonged delay in recovering properties belonging to the Chinna Kesava Perumal temple located in Perambattu village, Tirupattur.
In September two thousand twenty-three, the High Court had specifically instructed the HR and CE department to complete the recovery of all temple properties within a period of six months. However, alleging non-compliance with this clear directive, petitioner S. Natarajan filed a contempt plea against several key officials.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan, heard the case. The bench directed the HR and CE Commissioner, the Joint Commissioner in Vellore, and the HR and CE Inspector in Tirupattur to appear before the court.
Additionally, the Tirupattur Tahsildar was also summoned to submit an explanation for the alleged delay of more than one year in transferring the patta (land ownership document) of the temple lands back into the temple’s name.
The court is seeking a detailed explanation from all four officials regarding the non-implementation of its order within the stipulated time. The next hearing is scheduled for January twelve.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Dr. R. B. Chaudhary
