MADURAI: Nearly 67,588.28 acres of temple land have been newly identified while reconciling temple records with revenue records, Commissioner of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department told the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday.
Steps are being taken to lease out the newly identified properties through public auction and the same will boost the income of the temple, the department added.
The report was submitted by the department for a PIL filed by KK Ramesh of Madurai in 2019 seeking a series of directions such as publishing sthala puranas, puja timings and property details of all temples in Tamil Nadu on a separate website, setting up CCTV cameras, safety lockers, etc, in temples.
The report stated that a bilingual web portal named Integrated Temple Management System (ITMS) was designed for all temples under the department, and several data, including property registers of temples, were being uploaded to the portal.
Also, an e-grievance portal was launched to enable the public to send their grievance petition, the report said. Similarly, various steps have been taken to digitalise land records, increase security measures, remove encroachments, document and publish sthala puranas and agama books, it added.
Separate committees have been formed and manpower has been increased to enable the completion of the above processes, the report indicated. A Bench comprising of justices PN Prakash and R Hemalatha accepted the report and closed the PIL.
'Boost temple income'
Steps are being taken to lease out the newly identified properties through public auction and the same will boost the income of the temple, the department said. A Bench comprising of justices PN Prakash and R Hemalatha accepted the report