In what appears to be a major appeasement drive for the minority communities and their religious institutions, the Joseph Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government is preparing to regularise thousands of mosques, churches and dargahs that lack ownership documents by issuing them land pattas, as reported in OpIndia.
Confirming the government’s plans, Tamil Nadu Minister for Minorities Welfare A.M. Shahjahan said on Saturday (31 October 2026) that the government was taking steps to regularise such religious structures across the state.
The Minister made the announcement while speaking to reporters after distributing welfare assistance worth ₹1.14 crore to 71 beneficiaries at the Perambalur District Collectorate.
Shahjahan said that he had taken up the issue with Revenue Minister K. Sengottaiyan, seeking regularisation of minority religious structures that do not possess proper land ownership documents. According to him, Sengottaiyan had assured that the government would conduct a survey and initiate steps to issue pattas to eligible religious institutions.
VIDEO | Perambalur: The Tamil Nadu government is taking steps to issue land pattas to thousands of churches, mosques and dargahs that have been functioning without proper land documents for decades, Minister for Minorities Welfare A M Shah Jahan said on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters after distributing welfare assistance worth Rs 1.14 crore to 71 beneficiaries at the Perambalur District Collectorate, he said he had taken up the issue with Revenue Minister K Sengottaiyan, who had assured that a survey would be conducted and steps taken to issue pattas to eligible religious institutions.
He said representations had been made seeking pattas for places of worship that had been functioning for more than 25 to 50 years without land ownership documents. Necessary documentation would be undertaken in the coming days, he added.
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/bIyFWTfmBd)
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 31, 2026
The Minister further revealed that representations had been submitted by minority communities seeking land pattas for mosques, churches and dargahs that have been standing on government land for periods ranging from 25 to 50 years.
The government’s proposed move would effectively open the door to granting land ownership rights to religious structures that have been functioning without proper ownership documents, subject to the proposed survey and eligibility criteria.
The development assumes significance against the backdrop of several judicial interventions concerning unauthorised religious constructions on public and government land in Tamil Nadu.
In June 2026, the Madras High Court intervened to stop the construction of a mega church on land classified as a public road in revenue records. The case also involved a submission that the proposed church was coming up near a century-old Mariamman temple and could be used as a centre for religious conversion.
Similarly, in February 2024, the Supreme Court upheld a Madras High Court order permitting the demolition of an unauthorised mosque constructed on public land in Chennai. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and K.V. Viswanathan upheld the decision, reiterating that unauthorised religious structures cannot claim protection merely because they are places of worship.
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