Karur Inam land titles were never in the name of the temples: Tamil Nadu HR&CE Minister Ramesh

Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister Ramesh on Monday (July 27, 2026) strongly defended the Tamil Nadu government’s recent decision to lift the ban on registration of inam land in the name of individuals, saying that even the BJP and AIADMK, which are now opposed, had promised to do so in their respective election manifestos.

Speaking to The Hindu in Chennai, he said that the name of these countries was never in the names of the temples.

Mr. Ramesh said that the government has lifted the transaction restriction on only 471 specific survey numbers in Karur. “The legal position is clear. The individual titles were granted under the Inam Abolition Act, the names of the individuals appear in the UDR records and the same names appear in the computer chitta. At no stage were these lands recorded in the name of the temple in any of the three primary revenue records. Moreover, no temple has filed a civil suit claiming ownership of these 471 survey numbers,” he said.

According to him, individual titles were awarded by the government 60 to 70 years ago according to the current legislation. Over the decades, families have lived on the land, built residential properties and converted parts to others.

“These patties allowed individuals to transact property, obtain bank loans, and buy or sell land without hindrance. Moreover, the government itself has acquired portions of this land for public infrastructure projects over the years and paid compensation to titleholders. If they did not have legal title, the government could not legally pay such compensation,” he explained.

On the issue of fraudulent registration of land belonging to Dhandayuthapaniswamy Mutt in Palani in the name of two persons, the minister said the case served as an eye opener. The pilot project started to verify all properties belonging to the Palani temple would be extended to all major temples across the state.

The Minister had earlier announced that the Special Committee for Verification of Temple Lands would consist of officials from HR&CE and the Revenue Department.

“This team has been formed as a pilot initiative to conduct a comprehensive survey. Based on its findings, we plan to form similar dedicated teams for all big temples with large plots in the first phase,” he told The Hindu.

The minister said attempts to sell land in Palani had started even before the TVK government came to power. He said that the joint commissioner of HR&CE department had repeatedly written to the authorities that the land was in dispute, asked it not to be registered and directed the sub-registrar not to process any registration.

“However, during this period, an official from another sub-registrar’s office was posted as temporary head while the regular official was on leave. This official proceeded to register the property in a single day,” he said.

Mr Ramesh reiterated that his department had acted swiftly, saying it had lodged an appeal, issued formal warning letters and taken all necessary legal action before the registration. “As soon as we learned that the registration had taken place – which came to wider public attention after the Chief Minister’s visit to Karuru – we immediately filed a police complaint,” he said.

“We requested that FIRs be registered on behalf of the HR&CE department. I personally brought the matter to the notice of the Chief Minister and requested that the case be handed over to the CB-CID to ensure an impartial investigation. The Chief Minister immediately ordered the handover,” he added.

On the issue of rent collection from temple properties, the minister said the ministry was facing two major problems.

“The first is that some existing tenants are simply defaulting on their rent. We have initiated Section 78 proceedings by issuing statutory notices ordering them to settle their arrears or face eviction and repossessed properties,” he said.

According to him, the second challenge concerned properties that were occupied by successive generations of the same family.

“Since no new leases have been executed in the names of the current residents, some claim they have no obligation to pay the accumulated arrears,” he said.

Mr. Ramesh said the department was determined to improve rent collection and had set monthly collection targets for HR&CE officers in the zones.

“If the tenants continue to fail to comply or refuse to cooperate, we will initiate legal proceedings under Section 78,” he added.

Published – 27 July 2026 21:30 IST