HC flays HR&CE; orders immediate eviction of temple land encroachers
However, in the present case, we are unable to avoid recording the newspaper report, which tallies with the volte-face shown by the executive officer in his present status report dated Sept 2. Moreover, the proposed shifting of Annadhana Koodam inside the temple premises, which is an ancient heritage site more than 1,000 years old, is per se contrary to the directions issued by this court in another connected writ petition, the bench said.
Recording the submission, the bench said: “Normally, courts do not go by the newspaper reports and simply ignore them… It was held that no construction inside an ancient temple can be carried out without clearance from the heritage committee consisting of experts from the archaeology department, the court added. On Thursday, when the plea came up for hearing, counsel for the petitioner, S Karthikei Balan, referred to a newspaper report wherein it is stated that the HR&CE minister has instructed officials not to show any haste in evicting the encroachers from the temple land.