Madras High Court Directs De-Sealing Mylapore Club, Orders Re-Determination Of Rent Arrears

In a writ appeal arising from a dispute regarding payment of rent to Kapaleeswar temple by Mylapore Club, Madras High Court has directed the HR & CE Department to de-seal the premises of Mylapore Club.

The first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy has also instructed the respondents for revision/ re-determination of rent arrears by applying the process contemplated under Section 34A of the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Act (hereinafter 'Act') and after taking into account the current rental market value.

The bench has granted the department two months time to complete the process of re-determining the arrears and clarified that the club will have the remedy of appeal to the competent authority if aggrieved by the final order of the department.

A demand notice was issued to the lessee club by the Joint Commissioner of Arulmighu Kapaleeswar Temple on 22nd December, 2021. According to the petitioner, a fair rent under the Act has not been fixed for the temple premises they currently occupy. The demand notice was for an amount of Rs 4.7 crores as rent arrears. Senior Counsel Satish Parasaran appeared for the Club today and contended that the petitioner has not made any default on the payment of rent for 160 years.

When the matter was taken up, Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari noted that the only question left for the adjudication of the case would be whether the demand notice was issued by the executive officer after giving due consideration to the process mandated under Section 34A. If the prevailing market rental value and the guidelines have not been adhered to while fixing the new rent in 2016, then the demand notice can be challenged by the petitioner by appeal, the court noted.

"The demand notice must be based on determination. The petitioner says that he was not put to notice, the order copy was not furnished and the break up details are in contravention of Section 34A", the court acknowledged.

Senior Counsel argued that he was not even allowed to file rejoinder on the Joint Commissioner's computation/ break up details of rent arrears submitted to the single-judge bench of Justice SM Subramaniam. He further alleged that computation of arrears are not scientific/ based on any solid reasoning.

Advocate General R Shumugasundaram however urged the court about the necessity of recovering the arrears from the Club when it is clear that they owe the highest arrears in the City. The Advocate General also added that the Club must at least show its bonfides by making a payment that covers half of the arrears.

After hearing both parties, the bench decided to direct the re-determination of rent arrears as per the statutory provisions

Case Title: The Mylapore Club v. The Joint Commissioner/ Executive Officer & Anr.

Case No: WA/458/2022 (Endowments)