Evict priest, remove temple opposite RBI: Madras HC

Chennai: Holding that the question of ‘principles of natural justice’ will not be applicable to a person, who has violated the rules and encroached the government land, the Madras High Court has directed the authorities to evict encroachers including a priest and remove a temple, situated just opposite the RBI and secretariat in the city.

A division bench comprising Justices M. Venugopal and S. Vaidyanathan gave the directive while dismissing a petition from G. Gurusamy alias Appu, the priest of Kottai Palayathamman Thirukoil on Rajaji Salai, which sought to restrain authorities from illegally demolishing the temple without affording to due process.

The bench said a mere glance of the photographs produced by the petitioner would make it very clear that in the government land, a temple has been constructed. The petitioner has admitted that the land in which the temple is situated is a government revenue land. It is also admitted that the temple has been in existence in the place for more than 50 years. Instead of vacating the place, the petitioner has approached this court and obtained an interim order.

“Any person, including a priest, having encroached a government land under the guise that a place of worship is situated there, cannot be allowed to stay in the said place”, the bench added.

The bench said, “God has never sought a place much less an encroached area. If a person intends to build a temple for a deity, he should ensure that such construction is an authorised one. Any person, who has a devotion to the deity, will not raise an unauthorised construction, leaving it open to the authorities to raze it to the ground. People are constructing temples on the roadside, of course, mostly by encroaching public land, only to get a fringe benefit.”

This court was of the view that the decision taken by the authorities to remove the temple and evict the petitioner with the help of the police cannot be found fault with. Moreover, the violator cannot contend about the violation of principles of natural justice, the bench added.