Don’t alienate 1.6 acres of temple land in Chennai, orders Madras High Court

Two trustees of the 343-year-old Kandakottam Kandaswamy Temple at Rasappa Chetty Street, near the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station in Chennai, have approached the Madras High Court alleging an attempt by third parties to alienate 1.6 acres of the temple land located at Royapuram.

Justice P.B. Balaji has ordered that there shall be no alienation or encumbrance of the property until he could hear the case next on November 19. He also made it clear that the interim order had been passed only to protect the temple property and that none of the parties to the case should take advantage of the order.

According to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, the Kandakottam Temple in Park Town was established in 1672 by two individuals named Mari Chetty and Kandapandaram who brought the idol of the main deity from the famous Kandaswamy Temple at Tiruporur near Mamallapuram.

After the original structure of the temple fell into despair, the present structure was built with stones about 200 years ago. Subsequently, a magnificent Gopuram (temple tower) was added by Kalirathna Chettiar and the temple was now being administered by the Muthukumaraswamy Devasthanam.

In their affidavit, the two writ petitioners K. Sendilvellan and V.C. Kandhaswamy said, a devotee named Pauckam Kandhaswamy Chettiar had bequeathed one cawney, five grounds and 1,570 square feet of his land to the temple for the performance of the annual Vedarpari festival.

The land, located at Surya Narayana Chetty Street in Royapuram and totally measuring 71,170 square feet (1.6 acres), was dedicated to the temple as a specific endowment by way of a registered will executed on February 12, 1886. The will was also duly probated by the Madras High Court.

Stating that the specific endowment was created with a condition that the property should not be alienated even after the death of executor and that it should be owned by the temple alone, the petitioners said, even Pauckam Kandhaswamy Chettiar’s adopted son Pauckam Appu Chettiyar confirmed the endowment in 1919.

Thereafter, various trustees were appointed to perform the duties associated with the endowment. The petitioners alleged one of the trustees T. Parthasarathi Chetty executed a “fraudulent” will in 1997 in favour of his sons and daughters by claiming absolute ownership over the property which houses a mandapam as well as a few idols.

Claiming that the legal heirs of Parthasarathi Chetty had been attempting to alienate the property for long, the petitioners said, their request for declaring it to be a non endowment was rejected by the Deputy Commissioner of Hindu and Religious Endowments (HR&CE) department in 1994.

The Deputy Commissioner’s decision was confirmed by the Commissioner of HR&CE and also by an Assistant City Civil Court in Chennai which had dismissed a 1996 civil suit in 2015 on the ground of default and non prosecution. Subsequently, the legal heirs attempted to obtain patta (revenue record on land ownership) for the property.

The petitioners informed Justice Balaji that the Tondiarpet Special Zonal Tahsildar issued the patta on July 15, 2025 on the basis of a no objection certificate given by the chairman of the Devasthanam’s board of trustees. They said, the executive officer of the temple too failed to take necessary action against the chairman.

Stating that they have now approached the Revenue Divisional Officer to cancel the patta, the petitioners urged the court to restrain the third parties from alienating the property. Justice Balaji granted time till November 17 for all the respondents in the case to file their counter affidavits and passed an interim order till then.