Not insurance firm’s land, set up CMRL station on temple premises: Madras HC
The judge relied upon the recent judgment of Kerala High Court and held that law is well settled that the acquisition of lands belonging to religious institutions
Madras High Court
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court quashed the order issued by Chennai Metro Rail Limited to acquire the land belonging to United India Insurance (UII) company for Phase II and directed the establishment of the intended Metro station within the premises of Sri Rathina Vinayagar and Durgai Amman temple at Thousand Lights.
It appears that the State authorities have staged their 'Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark', wrote Justice N Anand Venkatesh as an undertaking was given before first bench of the High Court without making UII as a party to shift the proposed Metro station from the premises of the temple and to the land belonging to the insurance company.
The judge held that the CMRL notice to acquire the land is compounded by illegality as the facts show that Section 3(2) of Tamil Nadu (Acquisition of Lands for Industrial Purposes) Act, 1997, has been turned on its head and does not contemplate a post decisional hearing or a hearing, which is only a farce.
If the proposed plan to shift the metro station from the premises of the temple to the insurance company was based on the advice of the technical experts, the consideration would have been different but in the present case the plan was made after an NGO Aalayam Kappom moved a PIL before the HC challenging the proposal of establishing CMRL station within the premises of the temple alleging that the devotees would suffer, said the judge.
The judge relied upon the recent judgment of Kerala High Court and held that law is well settled that the acquisition of lands belonging to religious institutions, in exercise of the State's power of eminent domain, is a permissible exercise, which does not violate any of their fundamental rights under Article 25 or 26 of the Constitution.
Hence, the judge quashed the notice issued by CMRL to acquire the land of UII and held that the Metro Rail is at liberty to proceed with the original plan to establish a metro station within the premises of Rathina Vinayagar and Durgai Amman temple on Whites Road.
Though this is a fit case to impose exemplary cost, wrote the judge and restrained from doing so in the hope that the State and CMRL would realize the true meaning of Swami Vivekananda’s saying that ‘the highest aim of religion is to unite mankind and serve humanity’, the judge added while closing the petition moved by UII.
On August 8, last year, the CMRL submitted that it had no intention to demolish the structure of the Rathina Vinayagar and Durgai Amman temple and submitted that the proposed metro station will be shifted to another location in a PIL moved by an NGO Aalayam Kappom.
Pursuant to the submission, the PIL was disposed of. Following that, the CMRL proposed a new plan to shift the metro station to the land belonging to the insurance company.
On 27 September 2024, the CMRL issued a notice to UII proposing to acquire an extent of 837 sq meters of land from its property at Thousand Lights.
The insurance company challenged the notice and contended that the issue was decided in a PIL where the company was not made a party.
The company also contended that it had built a branch office at the impugned land by spending over Rs 250 crore for the construction of the premises, which is an iconic building, and it was done only after obtaining the no objection certificate from the CMRL.
