The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department on Monday (March 16, 2026) informed the Madras High Court that the Chennai-based, 132-year-old company Amrutanjan Limited, popular for its pain relief balm across the country, was in occupation of 14 grounds of the Mylapore Kapaleeswarar Temple land on Luz Church Road till 2018. The company has to pay arrears of ₹9.74 crore towards rent.
Appearing before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, Special Government Pleader (HR&CE) N.R.R. Arun Natarajan said, the temple authorities had initiated action under the Revenue Recovery Act of 1890 to recover the rental arrears. He also said, there was no direct landlord-tenant relationship between the temple and Amrutanjan.
The SGP said, the temple had given 14 grounds and 910 square feet of its land on a 99-year lease to one P.R. Sundera Iyer on August 28, 1901. Then, the lease was given for a monthly rent of ₹1,400. Iyer, in turn, had assigned the lease rights to a woman named Ramayee Ammal from whom Amrutanjan Limited had obtained the rights and continued to occupy the lands on payment of ₹1,400 a month for decades together.
