Chennai, Sep 22 (PTI) The Madras High Court on Wednesday lambasted the Joint Commissioner of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE ) department for filing a counter-affidavit in response to a PIL petition, allegedly in a "cavalier manner". "The cavalier manner in which the counter-affidavit has been prepared cries out for immediate action to be taken against the Joint Commissioner, including for contempt. Indeed, the arrogance of the Joint Commissioner knows no bounds as he suggests in the last paragraph of the affidavit that the procedure contemplated in the HR&CE Act, 1959 is cumbersome and therefore time-limit may not be fixed," the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu said. The PIL petition filed by "Elephant" G Rajendran related to the missing of the copper plate at the Bakthavatsala Perumal temple in Tiruvarur district and the encroachment on its 400 acres of land. The counter by the Joint Commissioner stated that the copper plate has been recovered and the petitioner"s grievance in such regard has been taken care of. "However, what is alarming is that paragraph 6 of the counter-affidavit filed by the Joint Commissioner reveals that the temple administration has identified 206.93 acres of land belonging to the temple and uploading process in the HR & CE website is going on". The next sentence is shocking. "Major part of the lands were leased out to tenants and some encroachers are also in possession." The bench noted that there is no indication as to who could have leased out the temple land to any tenant and as to how many encroachers are in possession and what part of the temple land has been let out and what part encroached. The HR&CE secretary shall furnish full details as to the extent of the land owned by this temple, the measures taken to retrieve the land, particulars of the tenants to whom parcels of land may have been let out, the accounts pertaining to the lease rents that may have been tendered and the steps taken to rid the land of the encroachers. Such affidavit must be submitted when the matter appears next, a fortnight hence, the bench said. The secretary would do well to enthuse government servants in the department so that such complete lack of accountability as is revealed from the counter-affidavit filed by the Joint Commissioner here is more the exception than the rule, the bench added. The Joint Commissioner, Thennarasu, should file an affidavit to show-cause why immediate appropriate action should not be taken against him, for the disrespect shown to the court in the manner in which the affidavit has been drafted and for dereliction of duty in not paying attention to any detail or seeking to furnish the same to court. Such explanation should also be available when the matter appears next on October 20, the bench said. PTI COR SA APR APR