The court established that the Travancore Devaswom Board must ensure rental income from properties reflects local market rates and applies uniformly to all tenants, in accordance with established legal standards.

JUDGMENT

Anil K. Narendran, J.

The petitioners, who are in occupation of shop rooms owned by the Travancore Devaswom Board in the shopping complex of Cherthala Devaswom, which is under the management of the 1st respondent Travancore Devaswom Board, have filed this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking a writ of certiorari to quash Exts.P3 to P17 notices issued by the 4th respondent Sub Group Officer of Cherthala Devaswom, whereby they are directed to pay higher rate of rent and security deposit in respect of those shop rooms, with effect from August 2021. The grievance of the petitioners is that the 1st respondent Travancore Devaswom Board has revised the rent, with an exorbitant enhancement and the Board has also directed them to furnish a security deposit of Rs.2,00,000/- each. According to the petitioners, the demand made by the 4th respondent Sub Group Officer in Exts.P3 to P17 notices cannot be sustained in view of Ext.P2 judgment dated 21.12.2004 of a Division Bench of this Court in W.P.(C)No.31785 of 2004, whereby, the petitioners therein, who were in occupation of shop rooms in a Devaswom under Ambalapuzha Group of the 1st respondent Board was permitted to continue in the respective shop rooms on payment of enhanced rent at the rate of 10%.

2. On 28.09.2021, when this writ petition came up for admission, the learned Standing Counsel for Travancore Devaswom Board sought time to get instructions.

3. The respondents have filed a statement dated 06.12.2021, opposing the reliefs sought for in this writ petition, producing therewith Annexure R1(a) document. The said statement was followed by an additional statement dated 06.06.2022, producing therewith Annexure R1(b) and R1(c) documents. The contentions raised by the respondents are that, in view of the provisions under the Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act , 1950, the Travancore Devaswom Board is bound to protect and preserve all movable and immovable properties of the Devaswoms under its management. The major source of revenue of the Travancore Devaswom Board is the income received by way of offering by the devotees, the amount received from vazhipadu, the revenue generated through the auction of temple premises for various activities in connection with rituals and festivals in the temples and also the rental income generated from the buildings owned by the respective Devaswoms. The Board have 18 shopping complexes at various places, having 5616 rooms. Some of the tenants have breached the terms of the contract and kept the rent in arrears. Some of them have illegally sublet the shop rooms. The rental income from some of those buildings is much lower than the current market rate. As directed by the Board its Estate Department has submitted reports regarding redetermination of rent and accordingly it was decided that redetermination shall be based on Delhi Schedule of Rates (DSR). Based on that decision the Board directed the Devaswom Commissioner to redetermine the rent of all shopping complexes and to enter into fresh agreements with the tenants. Based on that order, the concerned Sub Group Officer issued notice to the individual tenants to execute fresh agreement on the revised rates. The Board would place reliance on the decision of the Apex Court in Travancore Devaswom Board v. Thanath International [2004 (13) SCC 44] and also the decision of this Court dated in V. Haridasan Pillai and others v. Travancore Devaswom Board and others [Judgment dated 16.07.2019 in W.P.(C)No.18779 of 2019]. In the additional counter affidavit, the Board have explained the manner in which the revised rent