Soon, temple lands across State to be registered in name of gods

Hyderabad: The State Endowments Department has sought details of temple lands that are not in the name of the deity and in the name of individuals. The government wants to register the temple lands in the name of the deity to avoid encroachments.

During the last few years, temple lands have been on the verge of encroachments. There have been demands from Hindu organisations to safeguard the temple lands. In spite of several efforts, these lands are being encroached. This was evident with a report of a committee formed by the government on temple lands in Devaryamjal.

The report said over 1,300 acres of the temple land were encroached; about 100 acres were transferred in others’ names. As per rules, temple lands cannot be transferred and can only be given on lease for agriculture and other purposes. However, such lands were registrated in the past.

The Rashtriya Vanar Sena, which has been focusing on regaining temple lands by taking up legal battles, has argued that over 23 per cent of temple lands—over 20,000 acres of 87,000 acres—were encroached. The Sena leaders say there are more encroachments than what the Endowments data shows.

Sources say officials have been asked to submit details of temple lands that are not registered in the deity’s name.

The government will take this registration. A senior official said philanthropists used to donate lands to temples. Such lands should be registered in the name of the deity. However, these lands are still in the name of individuals, which gives scope for encroachment.

A couple of days ago, Endowments Minister Konda Surekha said the government has initiated steps to ensure that these lands are not registered in the name of individuals. She also said the geo-tagging exercise has also been taken up by the department; 34,000 acres have been covered so far.