Chennai: The Jain community in Chennai is shocked over the issuance of patta for 151 grounds belonging to the Juna Mandir, the popular religious place of worship of the Jain community, on Mint Street, here, to a trust, which they claim has no stake over the temple property. This incident came to light months after the community celebrated the centenary of the mandir in a grand manner.
The value of the grounds located in Ayanavaram is said to be worth several crores of rupees. “The land belongs to our temple and to god. Some people with malafide intention are trying to gain out of the land for which they are not eligible to get patta by drafting a trust deed,” asserted Dhanraj Kochar, president and Suresh Kumar Ostwal, secretary of the Sri Chandra Prabhu Jain Juna Mandir Tapagach Sangh.
According to Pannalal Singhvi, a prominent member of the Jain community, the said land was given to the Jains by the British in 1918. A magnificent temple dedicated to the fifth Tithankara Sri Sumathinath Bhagwan was built along with a Guru Mandir in 1925.
The incident of patta transfer was exposed by Vikas Bhurat Jain, a law graduate and Jain minority activist. “After a senior member in our community told me that the trust had obtained patta for 151 lands belonging to the Jain temple, I took the RTI route to dig out the real facts. Most shocking replies were from the tahsildar. I was told that the file pertaining to the name transfer in patta was not available in the record room,” claims Vikas.
After he corroborated with the Director of Survey on the existence of the land in the old record, he filed a series of RTIs and made the CMDA deny planning permission to the trust. “Now we want the status quo restored in favour of our temple,” he added.
