Madras High Court asks T.N. government why it has not paid rental arrears of ₹57.60 lakh to Veeracholapuram Ardhanareeswarar temple

The Madras High Court on Wednesday questioned the Tamil Nadu government for not having complied with an order passed by the court on March 30 this year, directing it to deposit an advance amount as well as arrears of monthly rents, at the rate of ₹1.6 lakh from July 2020, to the Ardhanareeswarar Temple in Veeracholapuram, for constructing the Kallakurichi Collectorate and other buildings on temple property.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday questioned the Tamil Nadu government for not having complied with an order passed by the court on March 30 this year, directing it to deposit an advance amount as well as arrears of monthly rents, at the rate of ₹1.6 lakh from July 2020, to the Ardhanareeswarar Temple in Veeracholapuram, for constructing the Kallakurichi Collectorate and other buildings on temple property.

Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu wondered why there was a delay in depositing the money in the temple account despite the court having given the government only a month’s time to do so. Though Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram sought two more months’ time to deposit the amount, the judges refused to grant such a long time and insisted that the payment be made in the next four weeks.

The judges adjourned, by a month, a public interest litigation petition filed by S. Deiveegan, former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the temple, complaining that the government had so far not paid the arrears of ₹57.60 lakh as ordered by the court and had also not taken any steps to renovate the temple, now in a dilapidated condition. Advocate N.G.R. Prasad argued the case on behalf of the petitioner.

The counsel told the court that activist Rangarajan Narasimhan had filed a writ petition in 2020 objecting to the use of the temple land for the construction of the Collectorate, office of the Superintendent of Police, other government offices and district courts for the Kallakurichi district which was carved out of Villupuram district. That writ petition was argued for about three years before different Division Benches of the court.

Finally, on March 30 this year, the first Division Bench comprising of then Acting Chief Justice T. Raja and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy permitted the government to go ahead with the construction on condition that the land spread over 34.817 acres must be taken on lease from the temple for a monthly rent of ₹1.6 lakh and had ordered the government to pay arrears since 2020. The Bench also made it clear that the arrears must be deposited within a month.