Madras High Court Slams Delay in Clearing 507 Acres of Temple Encroachment

The Madras High Court criticized the State's failure to remove encroachments from 507 acres of temple land, observing that a deity’s lack of voting rights should not leave it remediless.

A Bench of Justice P. Velmurugan and Justice B. Pugalendhi held that constitutional governance must not be subordinate to electoral expediency or organized resistance.

The Court noted that even after its 2018 directive, eviction was stalled by protests involving political leaders and legal professionals.

Invoking parens patriae jurisdiction, the Court ordered a comprehensive recovery report every three months and directed the disposal of related civil suits within six months.

[A. Radhakrishnan v. P. Madhusudhanreddy IAS & Ors.]