Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

HR&CE notice to Corpn. on takeover of Koyambedu land

By Karthik Subramanian

CHENNAI FEB. 11 . A resolution adopted by the Chennai Corporation on January 30 to take over a section of land at Koyambedu from a private party for maintenance of a park under open space reservation (OSR) has met with objections from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department.

According to sources, the HR&CE has served a notice to the civic agency asking it to keep the order in abeyance temporarily, in view of a dispute over ownership of 2.92 acres being surrendered to the civic agency as OSR under the Development Control Rules of the Town and Country Planning Act.

It has been ascertained that the land originally belonged to the Thirumangaleeswarar temple in the area.

But questions remain how the private party obtained rights over the land or how the standing committee (Town Planning) of the Corporation drafted the resolution without taking up the issue with the HR&CE.

Corporation's town planning department officials defend their decision, saying the verification and site inspection for the transfer of land was conducted by the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authorities (CMDA) and the resolution was just a mere formality they undertook.

Besides, the private party supported their claim by producing the order issued by the assistant settlement officer in October 1966 handing over the land belonging to "Thirumangaleeswarar Manibam", a `Devadayam' land.

However, a senior HR&CE official, on condition of anonymity, said the order of the assistant settlement officer was indeed "prima facie" evidence that temple land had been encroached upon. "Under normal circumstances if any land is occupied for more than 12 years without anybody claiming rights over it, it will become adversely possessed property. However, the HR&CE has been exempted from this clause because temples even date back to several centuries and might cease to function. But this does not mean the land is free for some private party to occupy," the official said, on his department's stance.

In fact, land belonging to temples within the city and outside has got entangled in legal problems because of ownership claims.

Councillor writes to Kalaivanan

One of the opposition DMK councillors, P.T. Sivaji, has written to the Commissioner, M. Kalaivanan, not to proceed with the orders on the resolution as per Section 24 of the Madras City Municipal Corporation Act (Obligation laid on municipal authorities to carry out resolutions).

"The resolution was passed by the ruling AIADMK after evicting the entire opposition. In particular, the members of the Town Planning Committee were fully aware that temple land was being encroached on," Mr. Sivaji alleged.

Meanwhile, the Town Planning committee chairman, P. Vetrivel (AIADMK), said the resolution had taken the consent of the council for taking over the maintenance of the OSR but the final decision could still wait until the issue is sorted out with the HR&CE.

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