The Supreme Court on 29th August, 2025 declined to entertain a plea against the Madras High Court’s judgment allowing the Tamil Nadu government to utilise Sri Somanathaswamy Temple’s land on lease and Sri Arulmigu Kapaliswarar Temple’s Rs 25 crore funds for constructing a college building in Chennai. The Supreme Court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta rejected a plea filed by T R Ramesh against the high court’s division bench judgment of February 20, 2025.
The division bench had earlier upheld the single judge’s order which stated the proposed long-term lease of the temple land was meant for running a college and, thus, the object being a benevolent one, the petitioner can submit his written objections or suggestions against such proposed lease before the Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department.
Tamil Nadu Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments P. K. Sekarbabu on 14th May, 2025 said that a total of 7,560 acres of land belonging to temples worth ₹7,871.23 crore had been retrieved in the last four years. He also said that steps have been taken to change the names on pattas of 648 temples corresponding to a total of 5,400 acres of land. The pattas are in the names of the respective deities. The e-chitta has been corrected for 4,491.47 acres and a rent of Rs. 1,046.31 crore has been collected. The Minister also said that the department will complete measuring and marking two lakh acres of lands and planting stones in Mevalurkuppam in Kancheepuram district.
After the Supreme Court dismissed the petition as mentioned above, On 30th August, 2025 the Minister said that 3,503 temples have been consecrated and the number will go up to 4,000 by January 2026. He also said that during the past four years, the department has conducted 2,537 marriages free of cost for the poor.
It is estimated that in Andhra Pradesh 87,000 Acres of temple lands are encroached according to The Endowments Department Report released in October,2024. The Report also says that all temples in AP together own about 4.6 lakh acres, out of which about 1 lakh acres are irrigated lands, Horticulture crops are being cultivated in about 4,500 acres while fish ponds cover nearly 5,000 acres. Various Govt departments, which took temple lands on lease, too owe huge dues to temples for several decades. In many places such encroachment also includes temple ponds and lakes. This type of encroachment of temple properties in addition to resulting in loss of properties and related incomes to the temples, also creates ecological and environmental issues by destroying the flora and fauna and damaging the water bodies.
Data of the encroachment of temple lands across the country is not available, though for few states the estimated data is available as under:
- Telangana: Total temple land recorded ~91,827 acres. Encroachment has been reported as ~25,000 acres (Nov 2024), while a later ministerial statement put it at ~6,000 acres (Jun 2025)—
- Karnataka (Muzrai): A 2023 department survey found ~625 acres encroached (across ~5,700 temples). Separately, the govt says ~12,000+ acres have been reclaimed/registered to temples during 2023–25.
- Kerala (Malabar Devaswom Board): Older Assembly figures indicated ~24,693 acres encroached in Malabar region alone; later statements suggested 30,000+ acres across Kerala’s Devaswom Boards.
- Odisha — Puri/Jagannath estate: 169.86 acres encroached (recent Puri figure); broader CAG findings flagged 4,500+ acres in audits.
Reclamation of the temple properties will help the temples to regain and retain their wealth, get regular incomes from those properties which will make the temples self-sustainable. Removing the encroachments on temple ponds and lakes will result in regeneration of water resources and preserve the eco system.
In 2019, Puducherry’s Karaikal district was in the doldrums. Farmers cultivated only one-fifth of their land, a bucket of water meant walking for miles and the groundwater level went down from 200 to 300 feet due to overuse. Life, indeed, was hard. There was a time when Karaikal flourished with over 400 water reservoirs under the Chola dynasty. Their extensive knowledge of flood management kept the Cauvery water from overflowing into agriculture fields. The engineers under the Chola rulers created an excellent network of channels and bunds that conserved rainwater, thus ensuring abundant water for the subjects.
“Consequent to the deficient and uneven distribution of rainfall and inadequate receipt of Cauvery river water, the town is officially declared a drought-affected region.”
The then District Collector, Vikranth Raja launched the ‘Nam Neer’ (Our Water) project under which of the 450 polluted, damaged and dried up water bodies, 178 were desilted and revived in three months. True to its name, this project was carried out with the collective efforts of the locals, educational institutes, temple authorities, corporates and government officials. The team began with the pond attached to Karaikal’s famous temple, Thirunallaru. In less than three weeks they had the pond desilted. Since a significant number of dried ponds are attached to temples or come under their jurisdiction, the temple authorities were asked to use temple funds to clean the ponds. The efforts translated into revival of around 30 ponds. Under the MGNREGA scheme, every village was asked to revive one pond. This drive saw a massive restoration of 85 ponds. Also, through CSR support, as many as 20 ponds and 80.91 km stretch of major canals were desilted. This facilitated the easy flow of water from the Cauvery River to agricultural fields. Additionally, a provision in the form of a new sewage pipeline connection was given to households that sent their waste directly into the river. Their contributions were further validated by the late monsoon season that filled up some of the reservoirs. One of their most impactful drives was in a small village called Poovam where farmers resumed agricultural activities after a gap of 15 years! As per a Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) report, the groundwater tables have increased by 10 feet in Karaikal between 2018 and 2019, claimed Vikranth Raja.
The above case highlights the importance of proper maintenance of ponds in general and the temple ponds in particular to preserve the water bodies and the flora. Let us hope that the state governments will pay attention to this aspect and work in that direction. Needless to mention that NGOs and other social welfare organizations have to be more vigilant and act as watchdogs in the public interest to prevent and resist this type of encroachments and misuse of religious properties. The ideal situation is that the temple properties are left to the temple trusts for management and the Government should refrain from its interference in their affairs and limit itself to framing Rules and Regulations for the trusts in management of the temples through legislative measures.
