Chennai (Tamil Nadu): The Madras High Court has issued an order directing the immediate recovery of temple lands occupied by the Queensland theme park. The court passed its order on the complaints that the Queensland Amusement Park administration had occupied 177 acres of land belonging to the Kasi Vishwanathar Temple and the Venugopal Sami Temple in Pappanchattaram next to Poonamallee.
The Queensland administration had filed a petition in the Madras High Court in 2015 seeking the cancellation of a notice issued by the Sriperumbudur Tahsildar seeking payment of a lease for 21 acres of temple land on the site of the park.
The case, which has been pending for many years, came up for hearing before Judges Mahadevan's bench. The government claimed that the land was first leased to Selvaraj in 1995, following which the Revenue Department canceled the lease in the name of the temple. The Queensland Resorts illegally used the temple land and occupied it illegally.
It was pointed out that their lease expired in 1998. It was also argued that Queensland had encroached the land after 1998. The government said the Queensland Company had taken advantage of the problem between the revenue department and the HR&CE.
On hearing the arguments, Judge ordered that the temple lands occupied by the Queensland has to be reclaimed within 4 weeks. The court also ordered to pay Rs.1.08 Crore as compensation to the revenue department and Rs.9.5 crore compensation to both the temples.
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