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6 tweets,
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This is a myth. In multiple RTIs filed by me across India on this issue, and on perusing legal documents pertaining to acts from British era, I found only one expired lease which had already been renewed. Lease granted in nearly all cases is “in perpetuity” and not 100yrs.
Curiously, most letters came back with the note that there are no churches on defence land in our area. However the Indian Churches Act 1927(repealed post independence) has a list of over 100 churches on defence land. anglicanchurchofindiacipbc.com/pdfs/indian-ch…
That’s where it gets more curious.
That’s where it gets more curious.
With the act that granted the lease having been repealed and not substituted by any other act, what is the legal status of the lease that was granted to churches under the act? It seems some govt officials did ask this question. And it has never been solved. Think about it.
Instead of imagining an expired lease as a solution, we must realise that ironically the Nehru govt has already solved it for us by repealing the act that granted the lease itself. And we have sat ignorant of the solution ever since. Go for it, folks. The list is in the document.
I'm adding the circular of central government dated 3rd August 1965 to this tweet series that clearly shows Govt of India wrote to states confirming that the ownership of all church properties under the repealed act vests in the Central government. 
Some legalese about "perpetual lease" - it does not mean leased forever, and it is at the discretion of the lessee (in this case the Government of India) which can terminate the lease at any time as it owns the property. Also, Perpetual Lease can be renewed only once.
