Mumbai: In a significant relief for one of the city’s oldest and most venerated shrines, the Maharashtra government has approved the renewal of a land lease within the Babulnath Temple complex for 30 years at a symbolic rent of Re 1. The decision, cleared at a state cabinet meeting on Thursday, settles a lease renewal issue that had been unresolved for over a decade.
The Babulnath Temple stands on a 5,677 sq m plot, of which 718 sq m has been leased to the Babulnath Temple Charity Trust since 1901. The lease renewal, due since 2012, had been caught in procedural delays. With the fresh approval, the state has ensured that temple administration continues smoothly and that devotees’ access remains uninterrupted.
As reported by Hindustan Times, the cabinet has also sanctioned a waiver of Rs 34.57 lakh in rent arrears that authorities had sought from the trust for the period between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2021. The Mumbai city collector had issued a notice in February 2022 to recover this amount, but the trust argued that the land was not being used for commercial purposes and that the rent calculation was based on an incorrect categorisation.
The matter gained traction after trustee Nitin Thakkar wrote to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in May 2025, seeking intervention. In his letter, Thakkar clarified that the leased portion was used solely as an access pathway for devotees visiting the temple.
He contended that charging commercial-rate rent was unreasonable and placed an unfair financial load on a religious institution serving the public. The state cabinet accepted this argument and decided to grant a complete waiver, citing the non-commercial use of the land and the temple’s long-standing role in public service.
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In a separate representation, Thakkar requested that the government convert the leased land into freehold property, which would grant full ownership to the trust. This demand, however, is unlikely to be accepted. The Mumbai collector had earlier pointed out that under the existing freehold policy, only plots reserved purely for residential, commercial or industrial purposes can be converted. Since land used for religious purposes does not fall into these categories, such a conversion is not permitted.
For now, the renewed lease provides long-term security for the temple’s operations and access routes for the next three decades, bringing clarity and reassurance to the thousands of devotees who visit the shrine every day.
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