Karur Lifts Illegal Ban on 3,085 Acres of Public Land Mistakenly Blocked by HR&CE

The ban on registration of title deeds for 3,085 acres of patta lands belonging to the public in Karur district, imposed erroneously by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, has been lifted. The decision follows a review by a joint team of revenue and HR&CE officials.

Collector C. Muthukumaran announced that the prohibition, which had been in place for years, was originally intended to prevent the sale of temple lands granted as ryotwari pattas under the Tamil Nadu Minor Inam (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1963. However, the restriction was incorrectly applied to patta lands issued to the general public, causing hardship for landowners who could not transfer or sell their property.

In response to repeated petitions from affected residents, officials examined the list of banned survey numbers. In the first phase, 471 survey numbers that were mistakenly blocked and not subject to any court cases were cleared. This covered 3,085 acres of public land across the district, benefiting 3,390 title deed holders. The released lands include 214 acres belonging to Sri Balasubramaniar Temple, Pugalimalai; 204 acres of Sri Kalyanapasupatheeswarar Temple; 2,533 acres of Vikrutheswarar Temple; and 132 acres of Ravishwarar Temple.

The move is expected to resolve long-standing land registration issues for hundreds of families and institutions. The collector assured that further reviews would be conducted to identify and release any other lands wrongly placed under the ban.