selling temple lands ! ~ tale of administration

In a rib-tickling comedy, Kudavasal Sigamani would come to the city of Chennai with lots of money – and to him, the broker would sell LIC – when he would enquire on the correctness of values, broker would say, for having bought LIC – take Central free ! – that was SV Sekhar special.

In the road where famous Chepauk stadium is situate (Bells Road) – you would find scores of shops selling ‘used two-wheelers’ – the market is no performing that in each shop you would find dozens of vehicles, most of them looking very new – people buying vehicles beyond their means, unable to pay the dues, ending up in second hand market.

The competition is very high and  now comes the news that .. .. India’s top  online classifieds platform - OLX has partnered with American premium bike manufacturer Harley-Davidson for a joint initiative called ‘Ride In, Ride Out’ that gives an opportunity for passionate bikers to upgrade their existing bikes to a new Harley-Davidson. In a first of its kind partnership, OLX and Harley-Davidson conducted an offline camp during the India bike week in December last year (2019) where bike owners got a chance to list their bike on OLX and ride out with a new Harley-Davidson. The OLX team assisted users in listing their pre-owned bikes on OLX in order to get better value for the same while the Harley team offered on spot exchange offers on new bikes as part of the association. The pre-owned two-wheeler market (scooters and bikes) in India is estimated to be 12 billion dollars annually. As per market data, the demand for high-end bikes/superbikes is on the rise given the aspirational status associated with them and a spurt in the rise of the biking culture.

But Online sales is associated with risks too !  ~  Most of the QR code frauds reported from across the city over the past year were committed by a gang of five from Rajasthan. One of the suspects was so intrepid that he opened a WhatsApp contact in the city police chief’s name to cheat a name to cheat a retired person of Rs 50,000.  It took a CCB team 20 long days to catch the gang from the northern state’s Bharatpur district. Police said the gang’s arrest solved about 200 out of the 316 cyber frauds reported since 2019, reports Deccan Herald.

There are times, when Online sales get fillip from unexpected quarters too.  Firms are ramping up production to cope with the massive demand brought on by coronavirus - as terrified people strip supermarket shelves of essentials.  In UK, shops including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose are looking increasingly desolate as people begin stockpiling household goods. Pictures show empty aisles as sections for hand soap and disinfectant, nappies and baby wipes as well as dried goods such as pasta and rice are cleared. Supermarkets have told of how they are putting plans in place to cope with the unprecedented demand - as the number of cases is expected to rise. Retailers are even considering rationing household essentials such as toilet paper in response to panic buying, with some shoppers spending £900 online.  So online demand for sanitizers, masks, toilet papers have all gone up.  Now read this interesting Online sale attempt reported in Times of India. 

Officials of the Hindu religious and charitable endowments department were in for a surprise when they found an online advertisement seeking to sell a house owned by a temple at Triplicane. The house on BB Road belongs to Theerthapaleeswarar temple. Based on a complaint from temple officials, the Triplicane police arrested Sadiq Basha who placed the advertisement on OLX, an online marketplace. “The house was given on rent to Kasim a few decades ago. But now the house is locked and nobody lives in it. A few days ago, devotees coming to the temple asked us about the advertisement in OLX,” temple executive officer K S Narsonai told TOI.

Soon, temple officials checked and found that the advertisement had put the house for sale for Rs.25 lakh. “The advertisement said it was temple land which is up for sale along with a building. It also said the house is in good condition and ready to move in. It has a borewell as well as a proper Metrowater connection,” said Narsonai. The temple officials called up the online platform for confirmation. “We were told that it was Basha who placed the ad. But the advertisement said the property was listed by the builder and that the building with a ground and first floor was in good condition,” said the official.

“We rushed to the building but could not find Kasim and the house was locked. We have taken charge of the building and also filed a complaint with the Triplicane police,” said Narasonai. Temple officials have written to the registration department asking it not to register any property owned by the temple if it comes up for sale. “We have asked officials of the registration department not to allow anyone to sell any property belonging to the Theerthapaleeswarar temple. We have given details about the property with survey number to the department,” said Narasonai.

Though the Triplicane police have arrested Basha, the information has not been passed on to the HR&CE officials. “We don’t have any information about Basha but police said the investigation is going on,” said Narasonai.

Strange are the ways of people ~ and that of administrators of temples.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

5^th Mar 2020.