Temple Lands Should Be Alienated Only If In The Temple's Interest, Says Madras High Court

A Madras High Court bench of Justices R Mahadevan and PD Audikesavalu has stated that temple lands can only be alienated if it is in the temple's interest.

Additionally, the proposal must consider public objections, obtain government approval, and receive the HR&CE Commissioner's approval, it said.

It gave the clarification after a request by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HRCE) department.

The department had asked for clarifications on some of the directions given by the Court in a suo moto case in June 2021 regarding safeguards for historical monuments which included temples and their properties.

The direction issued in 2021 read: “The State government or HR&CE Commissioner, who are the trustee/administrator of the temple lands, shall not alienate or give away the lands contrary to the wish of the donor. The lands shall always remain with the temples. The public purpose theory shall not be invoked in cases of temple lands.”

According to a report by The Hindu, NRR Arun Natarajan, the Special Government Pleader, asked the Court to clarify its directive and allow the selling of temple lands as per the rules set in Section 34 of the HR&CE Act to generate revenue for temples instead of leaving them unused.

This comes after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court asked the Registry to write a detailed proposal to the state government in the next few days to acquire nine acres of land belonging to the Kothanda Ramaswamy temple in order to build infrastructure for the Court.

Temple activist TR Ramesh said, "This is a very important direction/clarification by Hon’ble Division Bench of Madras High Court. For many decades @tnhrcedept readily gave Temple Lands to TN Govt which systematically targeted Hindu Temple, Mutt & Endowment lands. Due process of law was deliberately violated."

The bench also said that political connections alone cannot disqualify a person from being appointed as a temple trustee if they possess the necessary qualifications, and are devout and religious.