TIRUCHY: The Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has started taking strict measures to recover its long-pending rental arrears from those on temple-owned lands across the State.
Officials have begun sealing establishments and residential buildings that failed to repay the rent despite issuance of several notices, and also have begun pasting notices bearing the names of non-payers and their due amount on the doors of the buildings.
In the notice pasted by the Rockfort Thayumanaswamy temple officials, a renowned jewellery shop occupies the top spot with a mention of Rs 1.87 crore as its rental arrears.
On Friday, two shops owned by the Rockfort temple, which had nearly Rs 14 lakh in rental arrears, were sealed by the HR&CE department. Similarly, earlier last week, six shops owned by other temples were sealed.
According to a recent report by the HR&CE Department, the rental arrears for all temple-owned properties, including commercial, residential buildings, and others is over Rs 2,000 crore. It had revised the rent in 2016. However, several occupants on temple-owned lands had not paid the revised rent for a long time despite the notices.
With the amount piling up, the HR&CE commissioner ordered speedy collection of the dues.
Vijayarani, the Assistant Commissioner of Rockfort Arulmigu Thayumanaswamy temple, said, “Many shops have not paid the revised rent from 2016. Over the past six years the rental arrears have amounted to more than Rs 6 crore.”
“Apart from a few small shops, many big and popular firms, too, have not paid rent. The shops which have been listed in the notice have moved the Madras High Court. We will take action based on the court orders. We have pasted notices mentioning the rent arrears alongside details of the shop,” Vijayarani added.
According to HR&CE department sources, a total of Rs 71 crore in rental arrears is pending in several temple-owned properties in Tiruchy region alone. Of this,
Rs 2.5 crore has been collected in the last 12 days (till February 12) in Tiruchy and Perambalur districts.
HR&CE Minister P K Sekar Babu told TNIE, “Through the Integrated Temple Management System (ITMS) and online processes we have collected rent amount of 40 crore till date. In the last two weeks, a sum of Rs 50 crore in rental arrears has been collected from shops on temple lands in the State.”
Further, in accordance with the chief minister’s order, the dues would be collected from the residential occupants “without affecting their livelihood”, the minister added.
“Commercial building occupants will have to pay the amount immediately. However, we will consider extending the deadline for small shop owners who are financially affected,” the minister further said, adding that encroachments in temple-owned properties would be cleared as well.