Madras HC orders stay to prevent DBS Bank from taking possession of temple property

MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday ordered an interim stay preventing DBS Bank India Limited from taking over a temple property in Thanjavur. A Bench of Justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad passed the interim order on a petition filed by the executive officer (EO) of the Nageswaraswamy temple in Kumbakonam.

According to the petition, the property measuring upto 1,215 sq ft had been let out to one AS Marimuthu for 50 years and the temple administration was recently taking steps to terminate his tenancy. But it was revealed that three persons created forged documents for the property and obtained a loan from the bank.

Since the loan was not repaid, the bank had filed an application before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Thanjavur, hearing which the CJM appointed an advocate commissioner on May 5, to enable the bank to take possession of the temple property. Challenging the CJM's order, the EO filed the petition.