Supreme Court declines to consider plea against use of temple land, funds for building college in Chennai

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday 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.

A 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 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.

The petitioner challenged a notification issued on September 03, 2024 by the Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, and its publication in Tamil newspaper ‘Makkal Kural’, claiming it was done in violation of Section 34 of the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, 1959 and Rule 2 of the Alienation of Immovable Trust Property Rules, 1960.

After hearing senior advocates Haripriya Padmanabhan and Jaydeep Gupta for the petitioner and the respondents respectively, the bench said, "We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment/order of the High Court. Accordingly, the Special Leave Petition is dismissed."

In its plea, the petitioner contended, the notification did not provide any details regarding the amount of rent fixed or the manner in which the rent would be utilised for the benefit of the Sri Somanathaswamy Temple.

He also claimed, the notification also did not state that the proposed lease transaction was necessary and beneficial to the Sri Somanathaswamy Temple.

"Unfortunately, the persons of interest, not having been provided with the full and necessary details of the proposed transaction, were unable to raise fruitful objections or make suggestions," the plea said.

It contended the high court's judgment erred in appreciating that there was a clear violation of rights of the persons of interest and also erred in not discussing or considering whether the proposed transaction was necessary and beneficial to the interests of the Sri Somanathaswamy Temple and its stakeholders.

It also stated the previous or ongoing misuse of the temple property because of dereliction and negligence in duty by the administrative authorities, i.e., the Trustees, Executive Officer and the Commissioner, HR&CE Department ought not to have been used as the yardstick to determine that rent revenue to be generated from the proposed lease transaction was more beneficial to the Sri Somanathaswamy Temple as compared to the revenue that was being generated from the illegal use of the temple’s land as a parking facility.

The plea said the estimated cost of construction of the permanent building for the Sri Kapaliswarar Arts and Science College would be about Rs 25 crore and such amount was to be funded by the Sri Arulmigu Kapaliswarar Temple.

The high court ought to have considered whether such utilisation of funds belonging to the Sri Arulmigu Kapaliswarar Temple was done after following due procedure under the 1959 Act, it said.