The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption has booked a Sub-Registrar on charges of registering properties belonging to Arulmigu Meenakshi-Sundareswarar temple, Madurai, in favour of a private person.
Preliminary enquiries revealed the accused officer not only failed to get the No-Objection Certificate from the temple authorities but also registered the lands located outside his jurisdiction.
The investigating agency acted on specific information that Mr. Balamurugan, former Sub-Registrar, Othakadai, during his tenure (September 9, 2019 to August 6, 2020) had aided the private parties to register the temple lands violating the order of the Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department and causing loss to HR&CE Department and the Tamil Nadu government.
On the basis of a vigilance report, a case was registered against the official, at present working as Administration Manager, District Registrar Office, Marthandam in Kanniyakumari district, under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1999, read with sections of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the First Information Report, over a period of time many devotees of Madurai Meenakshi Amman gave valuables in their names to the Arulmigu Meenakshi-Sundareswarar temple for fulfilling the day-to-day expenditure and other rituals of the temple. Such temple lands in the name of Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple came under the control of HR&CE Department and were maintained by the Sooravalli Subbaiyer Trust.
The DVAC received information that the temple lands were often occupied and sometimes sold to parties using forged documents with the assistance of the officials of the Registration Department.
It was reliably ascertained through credible sources that the accused officer, after obtaining pecuniary advantage, had registered the Trust land in the name of a private person.
Investigators said that some of the temple lands were located opposite Mattuthavani bus stand, Madurai, which came under the jurisdiction of Tallakulam Sub Registry. On July 6, 2017, the Joint Commissioner/Executive Officer of Arulmigu Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple forwarded a letter to the Sub-Registrar, Tallakulam, giving details of the survey numbers of the temple lands and “specifically instructed that at any cost the above said Trust lands should not be registered without obtaining appropriate permission from the Commissioner, HR&CE Hindu Department, Chennai.”
In a separate development, the District Collector, Madurai, also directed Revenue Department officials to identify the temple lands. Accordingly, a team comprising Revenue and Survey Department officials identified 270 properties in different survey numbers opposite Mattuthavani bus stand.
Under these circumstances, I. Vetrivel of Usilampatti proposed to purchase 64 cents of land located opposite Mattuthavani bus stand. Since a portion of the property, about 34 cents, belonged to the temple, it could not be registered. After the Sub-Registrar of Tallakulam refused to register the document, the registrants approached Mr. Balamurugan who was then the Sub-Registrar of Othakadai. The latter registered the two documents — one for 64 cents for a value of ₹5.66 crore and the other involving 30 cents valued at ₹1.88 crore — on December 30, 2019.
Both the transactions included purchase of 10 cents of land each situated in Rajagambeeram village falling within the jurisdiction of Othakadai Sub-Registrar.
The DVAC said in the FIR that Mr. Balamurugan had aided the private parties to register a Trust land in the jurisdiction of another Sub-Registrar and caused a loss of ₹1.88 crore to the State exchequer.
