Top court: Ravidas temple to be permanent structure

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the construction of a permanent temple dedicated to Guru Ravidas at Tughlaqabad in south Delhi.

A plea filed by Congress leader Ashok Tanwar seeking modification of the court’s earlier order was allowed by a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Surya Kant.

As per the court’s earlier order, the new structure which was proposed to be built in place of the demolished structure was to be a porta cabin made of wood. The court has now agreed to the proposal that the new structure can be a permanent one.

This new temple will come up at the same spot where the earlier temple demolished by DDA, was located.

The contentious issue has its origin in the dispute between DDA and the temple management over the possession of the land where the temple stood.

The management had lost the battle in Delhi High Court which held that temple stood on encroached forest land. The

Supreme Court then affirmed the order of the Delhi High Court following which DDA had demolished the temple.

This led to agitation by Dalit community in the national capital. Subsequently, the Central government had expressed its willingness to rebuild the temple and came up with a proposal for the same.

The Supreme Court approved the proposal on October 21.

Dushyant Gautam, national vice-president Bharatiya Janata Party, said: The word “portacabin” was mistakenly printed in the earlier order of the court. After that, the central government had again filed a petition to correct the work with “pucca structure (permanent structure)”.

COURT HAD EARLIER SAID THAT THE STRUCTURE BE MADE OF WOOD PORTA CABIN. BUT NOW IT WILL BE A PERMANENT BUILDING