Sathya Studios asked to pay Rs 32 crore rent dues

CHENNAI: Rejecting a petition filed by the Sathya Studios, the Madras High Court directed the State government to collect Rs 31.97 crore pending rent amount from it within three months.

In 1968, the government had leased 93,540 sqft of land in Adyar to Sathya Studios, which was extended by 10 years in 1998. In 2004, the Mylapore tahsildar sent a notice demanding the pending rent of Rs 31,9,79,000. When the studio failed to pay the rent, an order was issued in 2008 to repossess the land.

Opposing this, Swaminathan, the MD of Sathya Studios, moved a petition. Meanwhile, the government in 2019 proposed a link road to Durgabhai Deshmukh Eoad reaching the government land near Sathya Studios to decongest the Greenways Road and DG Dinakaran Road leading to Adyar.

However, due to the pendency of the case, the land transfer between government departments was pending and the link road plan remained in limbo. Hearing the plea, Justice SM Subramaniam on Thursday asked the State government to take necessary steps to collect pending rent from Sathya Studios within three months. The judge also directed the authorities to fence and protect the government land and continue the link road project as planned.