HC directs corporation commissioner to remove temple

The Madras High Court today directed the Chennai Corporation Commissioner to implement its order for removing a temple located near an entrance gate of the court and file a compliance report by tomorrow.
Passing orders on a contempt petition filed by K R Ramaswamy alias 'Traffic' Ramaswamy, the Division Bench, comprising Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice K K Sasidharan, directed the Commissioner of Police to give necessary protection to the officials of Chennai Corporation to comply with its December 16 last order.
When the petition came up, standing counsel for Chennai Corporation submitted that the Commissioner has taken all reasonable steps to comply with the order and a compliance report would be submitted by tomorrow.

The Needi Karumari Amman Koil (temple) is in existence for the past 27 years on the platform of the corporation outside the Madras High Court Avin Gate.
The court had passed the orders for removing the temple on a petition filed by Ramaswamy. As the authorities have not complied with the orders, Ramaswamy filed a contempt petition against the officials concerned.
The Madras High Court in its December last order had said "courts are concerned with removal of encroachments on the public road and it is no matter whether it is temple, Islamic Shrine or Church."
It had dismissed a petition filed by the temple Trustee Kantha Srinivasan, seeking a direction to forbear the Chennai Corporation Authorities from in any way interfering with the temple.