The HinduInformative: A board displaying the details of rent due by tenants of Kapaleeswarar Temple. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan
An old-fashioned bungalow stands on the banks of the Adyar River on a sprawling five grounds. Located at the end of Bughs Road, beyond the Sundaram Temple at R.A. Puram, not many know of its existence. But it is a wellknown shooting spot and a much sought after destination of the directors of TV serials and feature films.
Today the bungalow is in possession of the authorities of Kapaleeswarar Temple, Mylapore. “It is our property and has been so right from 1958,” says A.T. Paranjothi, DC, HR & CE. Tracing its history, he says: “About 19 grounds (land was given to the temple by Bughs, a military personnel) was rented out to Krishnaveni, actress, in 1958 for a rent of Rs. 180. Later on n 1975 the rent was revised to Rs. 400. She did pay the rent till the temple authorities revised
the scale to Rs. 6,400 (commercial rent) as she was using the area for shooting purposes. So in 1989 the authorities filed a case against her and asked her to hand over the property to the temple. In 1994 the judgment was delivered in
favour of the temple. She fought many legal battles. Between 2002 and 2008, the authorities tried to evict the family but she and her daughter Anuradha Devi raised objections. Execution petition of the eviction was pending in the court till 2011 and finally after obtaining orders from the court at the fag end of the year, we recovered five grounds and 1.073 sq ft of land on Dec. 9, last year.
“While six grounds have been encroached by a single person (who has built residential buildings here), five grounds have been handed over to MRTS and the rest have been encroached by slum dwellers. Steps will be taken to evict them too,” says Mr. Paranjothi. According to him, history says that about 299 grounds of land were given to Kapaleeswarar Temple in 1952 by Mr. Bughs before he moved to England.
Another major recovery made by the HR & CE is a building in Kapali Nagar, opposite to Saibaba Temple on Venkatesa Agraharam. “We caught a tenant when he was trying to sublet his residence. Fearing criminal proceedings, he handed over the property to the temple,” says Mr. Paranjothi.
The Aavin parlour on R.K. Mutt Road near the bus stand was actually functioning on temple land for which it was paying no rent. The authorities issued eviction notice and the property was handed over the temple by the end of 2011.
There are 20 major defaulters — ordinary residents to private companies — who have dues running into
lakhs of rupees. “All of them will be penalised if they do not pay a fair rent and will be evicted if they refuse to,” says the DC. The temple has a lot of property donated to it by the Cholas, Pandiyas and Pallavas. At present, a number of tenants are using them for commercial and residential purposes. The rent was fixed by trustees, decades ago. Some were given on a 99-year lease, others for 50 years while some on a monthly basis. There were no proper guidelines until 1998. Depending on whether they were commercial, noncommercial or residential, rent was fixed, based on the market value. A Government Order, stating that the fares would be revised once in three years by 33.33 per cent, was issued. But as the tenants raised objections another G.O. reducing the rental rate was issued in 2007.
Based on this, the Government has ordered the HR & CE to track and penalise the defaulters and recover properties. Notices have been issued to all of them. While some have approached the judiciary, others have agreed to pay. “Properties worth more than 20 crores are yet to be recovered. It is a Herculean task and I hope to execute it to the best of my ability,” concludes Mr. Paranjothi.
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