The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department has conceded that it had constructed offices for its regional Joint Commissioners / Assistant Commissioners on lands belonging to various temples across the State and assured the Madras High Court that the amount appropriated for the construction would be reimbursed to the temples concerned from the government funds.
Filing a counter affidavit before a special Division Bench of Justices R. Mahadevan and P.D. Audikesavalu, the department admitted the claim made by public interest litigant T.R. Ramesh that the offices of the JC and AC in Mayiladuthurai had been constructed on Sidharkadu Sambanthaswamy temple land. It said the monthly rent for the land was fixed at ₹2,000 from 2013 to 2016 and at ₹3,000 thereafter.
The rental arrears to the tune of ₹2.82 lakh up to February 28, 2023 was paid to the temple from government budget allocation. “The amount appropriated for the construction of the building will be reimbursed to the concerned temple from the administrative fund or government fund,” the department said and conceded to have constructed JC/AC offices on Madurai Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple land too.
