Tamil Nadu: Madras HC Issues Contempt Notices To Five IAS Officers, HR&CE Joint Commissioner Over Temple Land Case

The Madras High Court on Tuesday (24 June) issued notices to five IAS officers and a joint commissioner of the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department (HR &CE) after observing that a prima facie case of contempt had been made out against them.

The case relates to alleged non-compliance with a court order from April 2024 regarding encroachment on land belonging to Devanathaswamy Temple in Cuddalore district.

The notices were issued by the First Division Bench of Chief Justice K R Shriram and Justice Sunder Mohan in response to a contempt petition filed by S Vinoth Raghavendran, BJP’s state secretary of the spiritual and temple development wing.

The court has scheduled the next hearing for 10 July.

As per a report by The Hindu, the original writ petition accused St Joseph’s Matriculation Higher Secondary School of being in occupation of the temple land.

During that hearing, the HR&CE department had submitted that the school had secured a 2019 court order requesting over 4.5 acres of alternative land, adding that the proposal was pending with the state government.

The Division Bench had directed the government to identify the alternative land within six months.

As far as encroachment of other lands belonging to the temple was concerned, the judges disposed of the writ plea in April 2024 after recording the submission of the HR&CE counsel that a survey would be conducted within three months and necessary action would be taken if any encroachments were identified.

It was alleging disobedience of this order passed in the writ petition last year that the petitioner had now filed a contempt plea.

The contempt plea has been filed against IAS officers P Amudha, S Madhumathi, B Chandramohan, P N Sridhar, and Sibi Adhithya Senthilkumar who had served as Revenue Secretary, School Education Secretary, HR&CE Secretary, HR&CE Commissioner, and Cuddalore Collector at the relevant point of time.