Rs 4,236-Crore Agri land, Buildings Restored to Temples in Tamil Nadu

The Hindu and Religious Charitable Endowments Board (HR&CE) has restored 4501.82 acres of agricultural lands, 809.21 acres of vacant plots, 156.12 grounds of buildings and 134.04 grounds of temple tank bunds since May 2021. The total worth of these properties is around Rs 4,236 crore.

The HR&CE Board, created by a separate act of the Tamil Nadu Government, is in charge of more than 38,000 temples and mutts across the state. The temples and mutts, which come under the board, own 4.78 lakh acres of various types of agriculture lands.

“The landed property belonging to the religious institutions which are under the control of the HR&CE department is compared and reconciled with the landed property uploaded on the ‘Tamil Nilam’ website,” said a senior HR&CE official.

Of the total extent of landed property, 3.43 lakh acres of land are fully matched with the ‘Tamil Nilam’ website, and these figures were released on the website recently.

“Further, details of lands which are partially matching with the Tamil Nilam portal and items which are not available on the portal are also being collected/ reconciled. The religious institutions are preferring appeals before the competent authority of the revenue department for making suitable corrections to modify the partially matched cases into fully matched cases,” said the official.

The temples earn a fair rent for the properties which belong to it by renting it to various sections. “There are 21,933 buildings, 70,738 vacant sites and 39,191 agricultural lands of the religious institutions, and they have been leased out. From July 1, 2022 to March 21, 2023, Rs 117.63 crore has been collected as rent from these properties,” said the official.

The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 provides for fixation of fair rent for the buildings and sites belonging to religious and charitable institutions under Section 34A of the Act.

“Accordingly, a committee consisting of the regional joint commissioner, executive officer or trustee or chairman, a board of trustees and the district registrar of the registration department is engaged in the process of fixing fair rent for the buildings and sites used for commercial and residential purposes,” said the official.

A total of 7,192 cases are pending before the revenue courts, of which 3,463 cases have been disposed of as on March 28, 2023. A sum of Rs 781.31 lakh of arrears was decreed and a sum of Rs 266.12 lakh has been collected.

To safeguard the landed property belonging to the religious institutions, to identify and retrieve the encroachments, speed up the collection of arrears of fair rent and lease amount and coordinate with the revenue department, retired officials, namely four deputy collectors, 13 tehsildars, seven surveyors and eight village administrative officers, have been engaged on a consolidated pay.

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