In a special bid to release thousands of acres of the land owned by the temple trusts for commercial exploitation, the state revenue dept is all set to bring a new law in the direction.
In a special bid to release thousands of acres of the land owned by the temple trusts in Maharashtra for commercial exploitation, the state revenue department is all set to bring a new law in the direction.
Once enacted, the Act will seek to acquire as much as 50 per cent of the land that comes as soil grant owned by the temple trusts will be free for sale, which otherwise is non-transferable in any given case.
In a recent meeting convened by Minister of State for Revenue Rajendra Shingane at Mantralaya, the department sanctioned the proposal of following the Gujarat Abolition Act 1969, which deals with the release of lands owned by temple trusts.
“The lands owned by these trusts and governed under the Soil Grant-mostly inami or donated land- concept are not transferable and prohibited from sale. Once the Act comes into existence, this restriction could be released,” said a top official from the revenue department.
After having sanctioned by the committee of officials and members from various temple trusts a few weeks ago, state will soon send the proposal to the Law and Judiciary(L&J) department for further suggestions.
“The act will follow the Gujarat footprints as the Gujarat Abolition Act 1969 has not been challenged ever since its existence for last more than 3 decades. We are adopting it with few modifications that deem fit in context application here,” the official said.
The act will facilitate government to allow the custodian (or the person who has been maintaining it for years on behalf of the temple trust) of the land to buy 50 per cent of the it.
Rest of the land will be given on lease on contract basis for one year and execution of the deal will be done by Tehsildar of the concerned area.
“The sale will be done at market price and the money will go to the temple trust. After the deal the custodian will be free to exploit it whatever way he wants,” the official said.
The officer said that this would help the trusts improve the conditions of the temples and provide better amenities. “Thousands of acres of such land are possessed by the trusts which will be exploited for better reasons,” he added.
Rajendra Shingane confirmed the step and said that once approved by L&J department they will go ahead to the cabinet for the nod.
However, an official from the L&J said that the step will lose control of the government over the land owned by the temple trust for decades; hence it will not be advisable to for the nod.
“Nothing will be achieved by abolishing the existing control of the government,”he said.
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