MADURAI
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, hearing a petition filed against the eviction of a temple from the land owned by Southern Railway, has directed the Divisional Railway Manager to look into the representation within a week.
A division bench of Justices M. Venugopal and R. Tharani also directed the Estate Officer to pass appropriate final orders within four weeks after looking into the representation.
The petitioner, T. Murugesapandian of Thoothukudi, said that he was one of the administrators of Railadi Anantha Vinayagar Temple at Kurumbur. Daily pujas were performed at the temple, where rail passengers also worshipped.
The Estate Officer, Southern Railway, had issued an eviction notice, saying that 9.61 square metres of railway land was encroached upon by the temple. The eviction notice said that the temple should be vacated within 15 days.
The petitioner had contended that the temple was not causing any hindrance to the public. The officials had not given them a personal hearing or consider the representation of the petitioner, he said.
