State Cannot Accept Gift of Temple Inam Land: Supreme Court Voids Deed, Raises Rent, Imposes Costs

The land, 1 acre 10 cents in Kodumudi village, belonged to the Nagapalayam Mariamman-Ponnachiamman Temple (para 4). On 30.08.2017 a temporary trustee gifted it to the State for a Taluk Office, and the Tehsildar accepted the gift (para 5). In 2019 the Madras High Court dismissed the hereditary trustee's writ petition, holding that Section 34 of the 1959 Act does not mention gifts (para 7). Devotees of the Temple appealed (para 8). In 2022 the State filed an affidavit accepting that the land was inam land granted to the deity, that Section 41 prohibits its gift, and that it would take the land on lease at a rent of Rs.13,235 a month (para 9).

Temple wealth vests in the deity, and every custodian, the State included, holds it in trust (paras 23, 25). As the land is inam granted to the deity, Section 41, not Section 34, applies (para 28). Section 41(1) allows sanction only for transactions "not being a gift", so a gift of inam land is void ab initio and nothing can validate it (paras 29-30). The deed was void and could not be registered under Section 22-A of the Registration Act; registration cannot cure it (para 31). Under Section 34 too it would fail for want of sanction (para 32). A gift is never an act of ordinary prudence by a trustee, and the State is a custodian and regulator, not an owner (paras 33-34). The State defended the gift for over four years and conceded only when the Court called for an affidavit (paras 35-36). As a Taluk Office now stands on the land, the lease continues, but on the Fair Rent Committee's formula the rent is Rs.31,000 a month from 08.03.2019 (paras 37-38).