Dispute getting murkier

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The tug of war between the local residents at Vellanad and the trustees of the Sree Bhagavathy Temple over the public road along the temple wall has become murkier. The people are planning to take the matter to the High Court as the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) has failed to execute the demolition of the flight of steps constructed across the road, violating a Supreme Court ruling in this regard.   The Revenue authorities had found that the move of the temple authorities of constructing steps across a public road near the temple, blocking smooth transportation of the people, was illegal. But the demolition of the steps was delayed.  The local people allege that it was the ignorance of the Revenue Divisional Officer that had made him accept in the file an appeal made by the Temple Trust president Janardhanan Nair against the demolition.  According to the Sree Bhagavathy Road Protection Council, formed by the local residents, the RDO’s move was against a Supreme Court verdict which prohibited any religious organisation from acquiring government-owned land and blocking the movement of the public in the name of worship. The council is planning to move the High Court against the RDO’s move, which was unnecessarily delaying the demolition.  ‘’The move by the RDO is a clear infringement of a Supreme Court verdict in a similar case. As a responsible official, he should have been aware of the law,’’ said Ramesh V J, a local resident and also a member of the Road Protection Council.  The Temple Trust authorities had built a flight of steps across the road, that ran along the temple wall, stating that unholy objects, including dead bodies, were being taken along the road, violating the sanctity of the temple. They said that they became aware of this following a ‘Devaprasnam’. However, the local residents, who had been using the road for several decades, objected to the move and said that all the residents who lived nearby where Hindus and they always made sure that they carried no unholy objects near the temple.  City Express had reported on the issue under the headline ‘Unholy Steps of Vellanad’. Later, the Nedumangad Tahsildar had found after a probe that the tarred road was on ‘puramboke’ land and the temple authorities had no right to block traffic along it. The Tahsildar, on October 12, had also issued an ultimatum to the temple authorities to demolish the steps within seven days.  But the process has been delayed after the temple authorities filed an appeal before the RDO, who readily accepted it in the file and granted extension of time.

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