God will protect the author of this judgment, says judge after ruling that temple property can be acquired for public purpose

Wondering why a metro rail station should not be constructed on a temple land in Chennai, the Madras High Court said, “The Almighty would undoubtedly shower his kindness and benevolence for the development of a metro rail station that will benefit lakhs of people from all the segments of society — some of whom may well be devotees who visit the same temple.” Allowing a writ petition filed by United India Insurance Company against the Chennai Metro Rail Limited’s decision to construct a metro station on its land in order to spare a temple property, Justice N. Anand Venkatesh took a cue from a Kerala High Court verdict, and wrote, “God will forgive us. However, Justice Venkatesh wrote: “The inspection that had taken place, without notice to the writ petitioner and right under its nose, sets up an impregnable defence of patent violation of principles of natural justice.” He also concurred with senior counsel Vijay Narayan, representing UIIC, that a show cause notice issued by CMRL on September 26, 2024, for the acquisition of the insurance company’s land, pursuant to an undertaking given by it before the Division Bench in the PIL proceedings in which UIIC was not a party, was nothing but a fait accompli and a meaningless procedure adopted by CMRL. Since UIIC was not a party to the PIL proceedings before the Division Bench, the undertaking given by CMRL regarding the change in alignment would not bind the insurance company, the Judge said. After quashing the show cause notice issued by CMRL to UIIC, the judge said, it would be open to CMRL to proceed with its original intended plan of constructing the metro station within the temple premises.