In a bid to recover rent dues from shopkeepers who have rented premises owned by Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple here, the authorities put up flex boards displaying names of defaulters around the temple on Monday.
The flex boards, which have the details of 29 defaulters, mention the names of the persons and the addresses of rented premises owned by the temple. The temple authorities said many defaulters had been erring on rent payments for the last two to five years. Two years back, a similar move was taken by the temple authorities to recover rent dues from shopkeepers.
“We had prepared a list of over 100 defaulters who had erred in their rent payments, and we selected the top defaulters and put their names on the boards. We hope that this will make them come forward and pay the dues,” said N. Natarajan, Joint Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department (HR & CE) and Executive Officer of the temple.
The amounts due to the temple from the shopkeepers specified on the flex boards range from a maximum of Rs.7 lakh to Rs.20,000. “Most of these shops are on the premises owned by us – around the temple as well as inside the temple near Swami Sannadhi and Amman Sannadhi,” he said. Several shops were located in the areas around the temple such as Masi Streets, Avani Streets, Rayagopuram Street and Chithirai Streets. These shops mostly sold puja articles, snacks and fancy items, officials said. The temple authorities said the defaulters would be given time to pay the rent dues. “If the rent is not paid even after the stipulated time, we will initiate legal proceedings and issue eviction notices,” they added.
