TELANGANA TEMPLE LANDS TO GO TO PRESIDING DEITIES

The state government is all set to declare illegal property transactions done on temple lands as null and void. The new pattadar passbooks will be issued in the name of presiding deities to avoid manipulations in future.

Temples across the state own over 86,000 acres and nearly 16,000 acres have been registered in the name of private individuals or companies. Besides, 40,000 acres of temple land are encroached through the ownership rights are still pending with the temples.

The government has decided to declare these transactions as illegal and take back the land. TS has nearly 20,000 temples, and 5,000 of them own prime properties in cities and towns. Last year, Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao had constituted a fivemember committee, headed by endowments minister A. Indrakaran Reddy to draft the guidelines to get back the temple lands, illegally registered in the name of individuals and companies.

“The High Court had stated that temple lands cannot be registered in the name of private individuals. We will implement this order and will declare all illegal transactions as null and void,” said Mr Reddy. The endowments department has been collecting data from the registration department. “We are gathering the details to submit it in court in case of a dispute,” he added.

When asked about private temples, he said, “If private temples were built on endowment lands, the government will consider regularisation of them by collecting a fee from the management.”