Temple land transfer pits sentiments against welfare
CHENNAI: In age-old issue in Tamil Nadu has returned to the spotlight in recent days. While there has long been a demand for temple lands to be given to the occupants, particularly the poor, a State government order to regularising such encroachments has caught political fire. The issue has always been sticky with legislators of Left parties frequently raising the demand in the Assembly over the past 20 years while Hindu organisations oppose the move.
The G.O. issued by State Revenue Department on August 30 regularises the encroachments in unobjectionable lands by granting pattas to the poor. The G.O also speaks of regularising the temple lands occupied by poor. The government plans to acquire them from the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department by paying compensation and give them to the poor who have been residing on the land.
When A Radhakrishnan, Founder, Thiruthondargal Sabha, challenged this G.O before the Madras High Court, the Revenue department reiterated its intention to give pattas to the poor who have been occupying the temple land for a long time. Subsequently, the State BJP and Hindu outfits have strongly opposed the move stating that protecting the temple lands was the duty of the government. However, HR&CE officials clarified that the temples have the right to agree or disagree to part with their lands. As such, there is no forceful acquisition of temple lands. “Only if the lands are available, can poojas and rituals for the temples be performed. Once the lands are sold, it cannot be retrieved by anyone. But out of political pressure, the present government acted against its duty to protect the lands. It is against the Constitution,” charged Radhakrishnan.
KT Raghavan, spokesperson, of BJP Tamil Nadu also opposed the move. “The government’s move is shocking and we urge the government to give up this move. We will implead ourselves in the present case. Kings and many philanthropists have donated lands to the temple for their maintenance. Instead of evicting the encroachers, the government is promising them to give that land. It is an atrocious move and it goes against the objective of those donated the lands to the temples,” he said, warning that the government should not “test the sentiments of the Hindus this way”.
However, economist J Jeyaranjan questioned the argument of the BJP and others. “Centuries ago, kings donated many places to Brahmins for running Veda patasalas, etc. They call it as Chathurvedimangalam. These lands were given in an unfair manner by evicting those already dwelling there. There was no tax on the produce from these lands and whatever be the earnings through these lands could be enjoyed by them. There are large chunks of such land in Thanjavur. Will the BJP now demand that all these Chathurvedimangalams should be restored to temple priests again?” he asked.
NL Sreedharan, former Assistant Commissioner of HR and CE and now advisor to Association of Tenants of HR and CE Lands traces the origin of the issue. “Those who live on temple lands by constructing houses have resided there for many decades - for more than six decades. In the earlier times when electricity was not provided to all temples, people were allowed to stay on temple lands and instead of paying rent they would serve the temple by way of crushing Iluppai seeds for making oil for lighting lamps in temples and making sandal paste for poojas, garlands for deities or cleaning the temple premises. Later, they started paying a nominal ‘adimanai vadagai’ (ground rent) for the land in which they dwell.
Thus, the coarse land was levelled by these tenants on their own cost and they constructed houses for dwelling,” he said. During the previous DMK regime, ‘fair rent’ was fixed for temple lands but Left parties opposed this move in Assembly stating that the poor people living on temple lands could not pay such steep hike in ground rent, he recalled. “Then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, in 1997, had ‘kept in abeyance’ the order hiking the rent for temple lands. In 2001, when the AIADMK government assumed power, the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa revoked the ‘kept in abeyance’ order of the DMK regime. So, the tenants of temple lands were forced to pay manifold times of rent to the government,” he said.
“First, the government should acquire the lands occupied by those Below Poverty Line (BPL) and give them to the occupants. Once the land is given, issue of pattas will follow. Secondly, for those Above Poverty Line, the government should collect a reasonable cost from them and give the land to them. We are not demanding the land for free of cost,” Sreedharan said.
He pointed out that in Tamil Nadu, temple lands were sold till 1984, under Section 34 of the HR and CE Act. For example, the lands of Vedanta Desikar temple in Mylapore and another temple in Padi, Nungambakkam, Porur, Pozhichalur, Choolai and many other areas in Chennai, were sold out. Only after 1984, was a clause included in the Act to stop this.
“Now we want the resumption of status prior to the 1984. That is all,” he added. M Natarajan, president, Porur unit of the Federation For Protection of Dwellers and Cultivators in Lands Owned By All Religious Institutions pointed out that the main reason for seeking the temple land, which they occupied for many decades, is that the ‘ground rent’ had gone up abnormally manifold across the State and it is heavy in Chennai. He charged that HR and CE officials were intimidating occupants of the lands if they defaulted on rent payments. Natarjan pointed out that in Kerala, during the regime of its first Chief Minister EMS Namboodiripad, all lands owned by temples were taken and given to the occupants.
Govt intends to regularise land: G.O.
What the G.O. of Revenue department dated August 30 says: “Considering the welfare of the poor who dwell in temple lands, the government intends to regularise the lands encroached by them by acquiring the lands by paying the land cost in accordance with the guidelines issued by the HR and CE department in its order dated November 2, 2018.
‘Temples have right to agree/disagree’
“There is some misunderstanding on the G.O. It talks only about giving pattas to poor people who have been occupying various government lands including objectionable and unobjectionable and temple lands. And in respect of temple lands, compensation will be paid to the temple and the government will incur expenses for it and they will give pattas to the encroachers,” said HR&CE. The HR&CE clarifies, “As in the case of any other government land, the idea here is to give pattas to poor people but paying compensation to the temple. The temples have the right to agree or disagree to part with their lands.
State issues G.O.
The State government issued a G.O on August 30 for regularising the encroachments in unobjectionable lands by granting pattas to the poor