The Madras High Court has permitted the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Southern Railway to demolish the Vilayattu Vinayagar Temple at the Ranganathan Street junction of Railways Border Road in T. Nagar. It has ordered that the temple can be demolished after moving the idols to another location within 15 days.
The Second Division Bench of Justices S. Vaidyanathan and K. Rajasekar found that the temple had no title over the land on which it had been constructed. Since the entries in the revenue records proved that it was situated on government land classified as a public road, the judges held it to be a clear case of encroachment.
“When there is an encroachment, the same has got to be removed in the considered opinion of this court. A direction is issued to the temple authorities to shift the deities to another place within 15 days from the date of receipt of a copy of this order without causing any damage to them,” the Division Bench wrote.
