Tamil Nadu’s Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department has reported recovering 105.14 acres of temple-owned land valued at Rs 113 crore from encroachments after 999 cases were concluded under the department’s law and 78 cases were settled before joint commissioners’ forums.
The department said the recovered land had been handed over to the administrations of the respective temples. The announcement places the recovery within the state’s ongoing effort to identify, measure and protect temple properties, which are managed as institutional assets under the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.
According to the department’s statement, action has been initiated during the current financial year to measure 16,657.69 acres of temple land across Tamil Nadu. Boundary-stone installation is under way on 12,373 acres of that land, indicating that the exercise includes both the identification of property boundaries and their physical demarcation on the ground.
The department said 999 cases related to temple land had been completed under the relevant provisions of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act. A further 78 cases were completed before the forums of joint commissioners. The department linked the completion of these proceedings to the recovery of the 105.14 acres and their return to the concerned temple administrations.
The figures reflect two separate administrative tasks involved in protecting temple property: resolving cases involving alleged encroachments and establishing the boundaries of land records through measurement and boundary markers. The department’s statement did not provide a district-wise breakdown of the recovered properties, the number of occupants affected, or the individual temples to which the land was returned.
The reported value of Rs 113 crore covers the 105.14 acres identified as recovered, while the larger measurement and boundary-marking exercise covers 16,657.69 acres and 12,373 acres respectively. The department has not stated in the supplied report when the remaining measurement or boundary-stone work will be completed.
