Encroachment of prime temple land
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 22: Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu Yash Pal Bourney has directed SSP Anti-Corruption Bureau Jammu to register FIR in alleged encroachment of prime temple land at Canal Road.
The order has been passed in a petition filed by Romesh Kumar and Ashok Kumar against Udhey Sharma, Padam Kumar and officials of the Revenue, Nazool and JMC.
After going through the complaint, documents and the report of SSP ACB, Special Judge Anticorruption observed, “it appears that investigating agency has missed to comprehend and address the core issue forming the gist of the accusations”.
“Admittedly Govt of erstwhile State of J&K vide Order No. Rev 391 of 1976 dated December 3, 1976 accorded sanction for regularization of 4 Kanals and one marla of State land comprised Khasra No 477 min and 488 min situated at Nowbad (Krishna Nagar) Canal Road Jammu in favour of temples of Shivji Maharaj and Satyanarayan Ji Maharaj which, during the relevant point of time were under the management of two brothers Bawa Krishan Dass and Bawa Gopal Dass, on lease hold basis for a period of 40 years with effect from April 9, 1963 on payment of annual rent at the rate of Rs 50 per annum with further express condition that area shall be used for religious purposes only”, the court said.
By the time the term of lease was about to expire, the J&K State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the occupants) Act 2001 came to be enacted and the respondents applied for the conferment of ownership rights under the Act withholding the subsequent clarificatory order and by suppression of the factum that leasehold rights in the land in question were actually granted to the deities (as clarified by order dated 03.12.1976) and to the individual Bawas as was mentioned in the initial order dated 23.11.1976.
In this way, they succeeded in misleading the authorities who went on to confer the ownership rights to the individual respondents over almost whole of the land barring the sanctum sanctorum. In this behalf, respondents look advantage of the language of the initial order to canvas falsely and misled the authorities to believe that land in question was granted to their predecessors-in-interest and ultimately got the same regularized under the Roshni Act in their own names.
Not only that they have gone further to divide the land barring the portion under the temple amongst themselves in three shares and succeeded in obtaining sanction for raising their private residential structures by misleading the authorities of JMC consciously and knowingly that land in question did not belong to them.
The matter further got crystallized by withdrawal of the NOC and sanction by the authorities concerned. A feeble attempt was made by Advocate SM Choudhary who appeared on behalf of the respondents, even though they have no right to address the court at this stage, that it was a private temple not to be used by the public and a portion of land in question measuring 10 Marlas towards the road stood allotted to one Dr Garni Shanker which are against record and stand belied by none else but the sketch plan of division got drawn by the respondents themselves.
“The investigating agency has thus failed to comprehend the true import and gravity of the accusations and the conclusions drawn by it cannot be accepted. It is indeed very disturbing that prime temple land has been encroached upon in broad day light and its user has been changed but the premier investigating agency of the state is still clueless”, court said.
Accordingly, court directed SSP ACB to register a formal case under appropriate sections in light of these observations and take necessary action immediately forthwith and also to submit a compliance report within two month’s time.
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