High Court directs SSN College of Engineering to submit sketch of 9.74 acres of temple land on its campus

The Madras High Court on March 24, 2023 directed SSN College of Engineering to submit a sketch of the 8 enclaves of temple land, measuring 9.74 acres, situated on its campus at Kalavakkam in Chengalpattu district.

The Madras High Court on Friday directed Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar (SSN) College of Engineering to submit a sketch of the eight enclaves of temple land, totally measuring 9.74 acres, situated on its campus on the Old Mahabalipuram Road at Kalavakkam in Chengalpattu district.

Justices R. Mahadevan and P.D. Audikesavalu granted two weeks to Senior Counsel Srinath Sridevan, representing the college, to submit the sketch. The direction was issued on a writ petition filed by the institution in 2014 against an eviction order issued by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.

The institution had obtained an interim stay at the time of the admission of the writ petition nine years ago, and the matter had been pending until it was transferred now to the Special Division Bench, led by Justice Mahadevan, who was seized of cases related to retrieval of temple properties under illegal occupation.

Special Government Pleader N.R.R. Arun Natarajan told the Bench that the HR&CE Commissioner had, in 2013, declared the college management an encroacher of the land belonging to the Thiruporur Kandaswamy Temple and ordered immediate eviction and handing over of the land to the temple management.

After going through the papers, the judges wondered how could the college management value a huge extent of 9.74 acres at just ₹2.34 crore and offer to give another parcel of land in exchange for the temple property. They also asked under what authority counsel for the temple had agreed to such an exchange.

Answering the queries, Mr. Sridevan said the valuation was of the year 2014, but now the college management was willing to provide any land, of even higher value, identified by the temple administration. He said the temple could even identify some land on the highway, and the college would be willing to give it to the temple in exchange.

The Senior Counsel stated that eight enclaves of the temple land on the college campus were landlocked and they might not be of any use to the temple. Two of those enclaves were situated close to the women’s hostel, he added. The judges decided to take a call on the issue after perusing the sketch.