Govt restores temple lands wrongly transferred to individuals

Tamil Nadu government today said that pattas (land deed) of over 4,400 acres of lands belonging to 719 temples "wrongly" transferred in the names of private individuals have been restored in the last five years.
"In the last five years, pattas of 4439.43 acres of temple lands belonging to 719 temples wrongly transferred in the name of private persons were identified and restored in the names of temples," Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister S Ramachandran informed the state Assembly.
In 2015-16 alone, pattas of 1,034.21 acres of land belonging to 170 temples were "ordered" to be restored to the temples, he added.

Further, the government has removed encroachments on 1,977 acres of land of Hindu religious institutions, he said.
There were a total of 38,630 Hindu and Jain religious institutions, including Mutts, under the control of the department in Tamil Nadu, he added.