Thursday, May 8, 2014

Hindu groups protest against ‘unauthorised’ gospel hall

Hindu right wing organisations led by the BJP here staged a demonstration protesting against the alleged use of a building leased out on a temple land for gospel propagation. Following this, the HR & CE has intervened to invoke Section 78 of the HR & CE Act, against the unauthorised construction of a gospel hall by the lessee.
The BJP, along with Hindu Munnani and other fringe right wing groups, have raised objections to the construction of a hall within a building complex for weekly gospel propagation by the lessee of the building.
The building on the temple land of Varadaraja Perumal temple was leased out for commercial purpose.
Rathinavelu, Assistant Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, Nagapattinam, told The Hindu that the department would treat the tenant as an encroacher and had the lessee evicted on grounds that the construction was unauthorised.
“We received a petition from the BJP and we already spoke to the concerned tenant, who has held the lease to the commercial building complex for many years. However, he had not taken permission for the said construction. It is evidently a hastily constructed hall for gospel propagation without our permission.”
“However, no gospel sessions were held there for the last two months, after our intervention. But the construction was done hastily. Now, the department will act on the grounds of rent arrears, and unauthorised construction and the tenant would be treated as an encroacher under Section 78, Mr.Rathinavelu said.
As a follow up, peace talks had been scheduled to be held here under Nagapattinam Tahsildar on Thursday.
Another HR&CE official told The Hindu that while no specific rule forbids use of temple land for use of other religious activities, the lease agreement should explicitly state the purpose of tenancy. The grant of permission whatever the purpose of tenancy solely rested with the department, the official said.

  • ‘Premises used for gospel propagation’
  • ‘The tenant would be treated as an encroacher’