On Friday (January 28), the Madras High Court rejected a petition that sought to stop the eviction of a temple, which is allegedly built on public land in Veppanthattai in Perambalur district of Tamil Nadu, reported The Times of India.
As per reports, the petition was filed by a temple trustee named S Periyasamy in response to a notice issued by the Tamil Nadu Highways department for the eviction of the temple. During the hearing, he informed the court that the temple had been in existence for more than 3 decades.
S Periyasamy emphasised that the temple was built without impeding public movement or local transportation. His petition to prevent the temple eviction by the Tamil Nadu government was however rejected by the Madras High Court.
The matter was heard by a 2-Judge bench of Justices D Bharatha Chakravarthy and S Vaidyanathan. “The petitioner, in the garb of setting up a temple, cannot usurp the highways property, which is meant for public use irrespective of creed, caste and religion,” the Court observed. The Judges pointed out that ‘not causing any hindrance to the public’ cannot be accepted since the petitioner failed to show documents that prove the ownership of the land by the temple trust.
They further noted, “Even though the petitioner has stated that the temple was constructed three decades ago and the land belonged to the temple, what prevented him from producing necessary documents to establish his case? If the petitioner is so particular in facilitating the devotees to worship Vinayagar, it is open for him either to allot his unencumbered land or the land, if any, available to the temple and thereafter, shift idol to that place.”
The Madras High Court said that accepting the petition of S Periyasamy would send across a message that illegal occupation of land was permitted if it did not obstruct public or vehicular flow. It concluded, “God is omnipresent. God does not need a specific place for his divine presence. It is the fanatic, who is the root cause of all problems to divide the people in the name of religion.”
