The Madras High Court’s Registry on Wednesday informed a Division Bench of the High Court of having sent a proposal to the State government on June 10 for acquiring 6.51 acres of temple land situated right opposite to the main entrance to the Madurai Bench of the High Court.
Justices G. Jayachandran and K. K. Ramakrishnan were told that Registrar General (in-charge) M. Jothiraman had sent a five page proposal to Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu stating that the land belonging to the Kothanda Ramaswamy Temple at Y. Othakadai in Madurai was required for the Bench’s expansion.
Though the temple owned over nine acres, the R-G said that the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court would not require around three acres that was situated on the Narasingam Road. However, the 6.51 acres located on two different survey numbers were essential for creation of infrastructure, he added.
Explaining in detail, Mr. Jothiraman said, the land was required for construction of additional residential quarters for officers and staff of the Madurai Bench, a community hall, an auditorium as well as a conference hall, court records digitization centre, record room as well as a car parking area for lawyers and litigants.
The R-G had requested the Chief Secretary to acquire the land under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act of 2013 at an outlay of ₹11.20 crore and hand it over to the High Court administration for the creation of various infrastructural facilities.
After perusing the proposal sent by the R-G, the judges requested Advocate General R. Shunmugasundaram to follow up the issue with the Chief Secretary and inform the court of the decision to be taken by the government by June 27. The A-G said, the land could be either acquired or taken on long term lease.
The proposal was sent pursuant to a public interest litigation petition filed by litigant M. Saravanan in 2019 seeking a direction to the State government as well as the High Court administration to acquire the land located opposite to the Madurai Bench and utilise it for expansion activities. Senior Counsel T. Lajapthi Roy represented the petitioner.
