‘Man is the most insane species’: Madras high court slams Tamil Nadu govt for allotting sand dune land to school

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Thursday censured the Tamil Nadu govt for acting “recklessly” and allotting land comprising sand dunes as an alternative to land recovered from a private school on the ground that it belonged to a temple.

Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy quoted French-Canadian astrophysicist Hubert Reeves, who said, “Man is the most insane species. He worships an invisible God and destroys a visible nature. Unaware that this nature he’s destroying is this God he’s worshipping.” The judge then said, “Sand dunes are natural buffers that protect the land from storms and other events. They act as sand reservoirs. They are habitats for certain flora and fauna. They are an eco-sensitive system of utmost importance. Without realising that these sand dunes are also the incarnation of Lord Sri Devanatha Swami (deity of the temple), the authorities deemed it fit to allocate them to the school for development.”

The court quashed a GO dated July 1, 2025, and directed the govt to allocate alternate land or pay the value of the land to St Joseph’s Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Koothapakkam, Cuddalore.

The court passed the order on a plea moved by the school challenging the GO passed by the govt allotting the land comprising sand dunes located 34 km away from Cuddalore. In 1979, the school purchased 5.77 acres of land through a GO. In 2009, the govt issued a GO to resume the land on the ground that it belonged to a temple.

Aggrieved, the school moved the court. The court directed the govt to allot 4.5 acres of land, preferably near Cuddalore town. Since the govt allotted the land 34 km away from the town, the school moved the court once again, alleging that land comprising sand dunes was allotted.

Allowing the plea, the court said it could be seen that when the petitioner’s land, worth approximately Rs 8 crore, was taken back, the land that was allotted was valued at Rs 2 crore and was located 34 km from Cuddalore town without any road access. The state, like any other individual, should act conscientiously and understand the spirit of the order passed by the court, the judge said.