Madras High Court allows leasing of city temple land to build college

The Madras High Court validated a previous judgment permitting the leasing of temple land in Kolathur for building an arts and science college. The ruling was made after a division bench of Justices R Subramanian and C Kumarappan rejected an appeal filed by temple activist TR Ramesh, who had objected to the lease on the grounds of money.

The controversy was about a 2.4-acre land holding of the Somanathaswamy temple in Kolathur, which is handled by the Mylapore Kapaleeswarar temple trust. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department had put up for lease the land for 25 years at ₹3.19 lakh per month.

The writ petition, which was previously rejected by a single judge, challenged the HR&CE department's advertisement for leasing 2.4 acres of land of Somanathaswamy temple at Kolathur for a period of 25 years at a rent of Rs 3.19 lakh per month. The petitioner opposed the lease on some grounds, such as the rental value was not determined by considering the guideline value, and thus it has caused a loss of Rs 1.93 lakh per month to the temple.

Ramesh argued that the temple suffered an estimated ₹1.93 lakh a month since the rental pricing was not set according to the guideline value.Ramesh's request had previously been denied by a single-judge court, which stated that the lease was executed for a charity purpose, hence the judgment was justifiable despite possible procedural errors. The court emphasized that the basic goal of leasing out the land was not diminished by these administrative errors.

In its decision on Monday, the division bench maintained the previous order, stating that the case was not worthy of judicial intervention. The decision significantly facilitates the establishment of the institution, which will contribute to higher education.