Temple land scam: Government forms seven-member committee

After several reports of huge corruption and land scam at some of the big state-controlled temples in the state, the Devendra Fadnavis government has finally constituted a high level committee to prepare a status report of the entire Hindu religious landscape of Maharashtra with also defining government's role in managing the land parcels under possession of temples.

The seven-member committee headed by the revenue secretary was set up on March 23. The committee has been asked to submit its report within three months.

The panel has been entrusted with the two major tasks. First is to study and prepare a status report of all the land parcels under possession of state-run temples across Maharashtra and suggest a comprehensive plan to tackle the issue of encroachment and illegal transfer of the land. And the other is to prepare a status report of the land parcels of the temples in urban area and suggest ways for proper usage and management of these properties.

The government is also mulling over to amend the Revenue Act of 1966 making it more powerful to curb the malpractices of charity trusts. The development is being considered as a first step towards a major reform in the way temples in the Maharashtra are being administered.

The state controls more than 4,000 temples in the state, including all major temples like Shirdi, Siddhivinayak, Pandharpur and Mahalaxmi temple (Kolhapur). Most of these temples are accused of corruption and land scams. Huge land parcels which belonged to the temple trusts since centuries have been reported "missing" of late thanks to the illegal land transfers to private parties and encroachments.

Activists blame it on government's failure and political intervention. The temple land can't be sold unless there is a specific instruction from the government. However, it can be rented out to schools or other social welfare work and can also be leased for agriculture purposes.

Hindu outfits had led a huge demonstration in Kolhapur a year ago "against the corruption in temples" and seeking CBI inquiry and freedom of temples from "government clutches" to clear the mess.

The outfits allege that the government-run "Pashchim Maharashtra Devasthan Samiti" which is based in Kolhapur and controls 3,067 temples in three districts of Sindhudurg, Kolahpur and Sangli, has lost over 8,000 acre land of land to the mafia and encroachers.

They also allege that the Pandharpur temple had got over 1,200 acre of land over several decades from donors, but the trust had no land under its possession when probed.

"A PIL was filed in the high court following which 352 acre of the land has been recovered and returned to the temple by the end of 2014," says advocate Vijay Ichalkaranjikar, president of Hindu Vidhigya Parishad and the petitioner in this case.

He also alleges that more than 800 acre land has been "disappeared" from Tuljapur temple as well. He says: "A PIL was filed at Aurangabad High Court which forced the government to probe the matter. Interestingly, the report prepared by the revenue department in 2009-10 was "misplaced" by the law and judiciary department."

He added: "Such land scams not only expose how government machinery functions but also devoid the temples from huge sum which could have been generated through the lands."

Revenue minister Eknath Khadse and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who holds law and judiciary department couldn't be reached for comments.