More questions arise over land deal for Ram temple
AYODHYA: Descendants of the original owner of a key parcel of land in Ayodhya have decided to challenge its transfer to the Ram temple trust and say the 22-hectare plot, a part of the Ram temple complex, is tied up in two separate legal cases and a police complaint.
Documents seen by HT and local officials say the 22,450 square metre land at Bag Bijaisi in Ayodhya – which is currently owned by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust – originally belonged to local resident Fakir Mohammad and his wife Bakhtar Bibi.
Wahid Ahmed, one of Fakir’s descendants, said the ownership of the plot is currently disputed with several claimants in Fakir’s extended family. The Ayodhya additional commissioner’s court and the Ayodhya civil district court are hearing separate petitions on the plot’s ownership since 2017 and 2020, respectively, he added. HT has seen corresponding court documents.
“We are left with no option but to challenge the registry to the trust in the high court. As the high court is not working at full capacity due to the pandemic, we will file the case once courts start functioning normally,” said Ahmed.
The plot – which now comprises two adjacent tracts of 12,080 sqm and 10,370 sqm – is at the centre of an escalating political row over an allegation of corruption in the purchase of the land.
Two weeks ago, two Opposition politicians alleged that on March 18 this year, Kusum Pathak sold the 12,080sqm plot for ₹2 crore to Sultan Ansari and Ravi Tewari, who then sold the land to the temple trust for ₹18.5 crore, 10 minutes later.
The same day, the temple trust purchased the 10,370 sqm plot directly from Harish Pathak and Kusum Pathak for ₹8 crore.
In response, the temple trust — a 15-member body overseeing the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya — and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rejected the charges and said the land was bought at lower-than-market rates. Temple trust secretary Champat Rai said the land was officially registered only on March 18, adding that two transactions occurred on March 18: from Pathak to Ansari-Tewari, and Ansari-Tewari to the trust.
But documents furnished by Ahmed and the Hazi Fakir Mohammad Waqf Khuda Rasool Trust, a 97-year-old body started according to Fakir’s will, showed that Pathak’s ownership over the plot was itself disputed – and tied up in two separate legal proceedings. HT has seen the Rasool trust’s documents claiming ownership. Moreover, Ahmed said the whole plot was registered as a waqf property under the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, which means that market sale of the land needs prior permission.
In the 1900s, Fakir and Bakhtar, who were childless, decided to constitute a trust, which would control the 22 hectare plot.
Upon their death, ownership of the land passed to the Rasool trust set up according to Fakir’s will in 1924 and it was registered with the Waqf board.
Under the UP law, land registered to the Waqf board is deemed to be dedicated for religious and charitable purposes and such are usually non-transferable. In their will, the couple also mandated that the custodian (mutawalli) of the land will be a relative, who will be selected by family and could be removed in case of irregularities. HT checked the legal documents that set up the trust.
This arrangement held for 70 years but problems started in 1994 when the then custodian, Mahmud Alam died.
In 1996, Mohammad Aslam, another descendant of Fakir, was appointed custodian of the land. But Alam’s four sons — Mahfuz Alam, Javed Alam, Noor Alam and Firoz Alam — refused to accept him and got the property registered in their names in 1997. In 2009, Mohammad Aslam approached the tehsil (sadar) office and asked that the 1997 registry be cancelled. After scrutinising papers, the tehsildar cancelled the registry, according to documents seen by HT. The four brothers challenged this decision and got their names back in the property papers in 2016. Mohammad Aslam died in 2015 but his relative, Mohammad Naeem, challenged the restoration of the four brother’s names in the property papers. Naeem filed a petition in the court of the additional commissioner (Ayodhya) on March 29, 2016.
The court issued a stay order on September 1, 2017. HT has seen a copy of this order.
“This stay order still continues till date. Despite the stay order, the four brothers made registry of the property to Kusum Pathak and Harish Pathak for ₹2 crore on November 20, 2017,” said Ahmad.
In January 2020, Ahmad and the Rasool trust challenged the transfer of the land to the Pathaks in the district court. “We pointed out that the property is a Waqf land and cannot be sold. Despite the stay order (from additional commissioner’s court) the property has been sold,” said Ahmad.
In 2017, Ahmad also filed a complaint with the Waqf Board. “The Waqf board handed me a report on April 27, 2018, stating that the land at Bag Bijaisi is a Waqf property and cannot be sold,” said Ahmad. HT saw a copy of this letter.
An FIR was also lodged at Ram Janmabhoomi police station against Mahfuz Alam, Javed Alam, Noor Alam and Firoz Alam on April 22, 2018. HT saw a copy of this FIR but the UP police refused to comment on any progress in the case.
Sultan Ansari rejected Ahmed’s charges and termed the land purchase deal with the temple trust as legally bonafide.
“The tehsil (sadar) had given a written order stating that the land at Bag Bijaisi is not a Waqf land. On this basis of this order the land deal was executed with the Ram Mandir Trust,” said Ansari. Tewari was not available for comment.
The temple trust also refuted allegations of any irregularity in the land purchase deal. Mahant Dhinendra Das, chief of Nirmohi Akhara, who is member of the Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust said: “All papers of the land purchase deal made by the Ram Mandir Trust are in public domain. Anyone can see them. There is no irregularity.”
“Anyone who carries out a shady land purchase deal never transfers the money through banks by the RTGS (real-time gross settlement) system directly into bank accounts of sellers,” said Dhinendra Das. The UP Waqf Board said it was verifying land records.
NEW DELHI: Owners of banquet halls and those involved in allied wedding-related businesses heaved a sigh of relief after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) came out with an order on Saturday allowing banquet halls to reopen from Monday, as part of its measures to unlock the Capital in a phased manner after a nearly twomonth long lockdown that was put in place following the fourth wave of Covid-19 in the Capital.
As per the unlock rules issued by the DDMA, weddings can be held in banquet halls with the number of guests capped at 50. However, if a wedding is being held in court or at home, the existing cap of 20 people remains in place. Ramesh Dang, president of Community Welfare Banquet Association Delhi, said he is glad that restrictions have been eased after nearly two months. “We welcome the move. This was long pending. We are reaching out to our staff. While some are in Delhi, some had returned back to their native places,” said Dang.
He said while some bookings had been placed months ago, bookings that were cancelled or postponed amid the fourth wave of Covid-19 are being rescheduled now.
“By tomorrow [Monday], things will fall into place. We wrote to the chief minister and the Lieutenant Governor and are relieved that restrictions have been eased, although this comes a little late,” said Dang.
He said while other states, such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, had eased restrictions earlier, Delhi delayed lifting the curbs. “Since Delhi eased restrictions after neighbouring states, a lot of revenue has been directed outside the city. Nonetheless, something is better than nothing,” said Dang.
Shiv Kumar, owner of Carnival motel and Resort, located at GT Karnal Road, said he was hoping for business to bounce back. “Since the decision came only a day ago, it will take some time for the machinery to kick into action. Our staff is also scattered in different places. We will start calling them,” said Kumar.
“Only two-three dates are left for this month. There are some dates next month but many have already booked facilities in Haryana and other states,” he said.
In addition to banquet halls, allied stakeholders and industry players, including band companies, decorators, caterers, and jewellers, are hoping for the revival of business.
Virender Chawla, managing director of the Chawla Band, said while business had been hit, he was hopeful that it will recover. “Since last night (Saturday), we have started getting requests from people. People are enquiring and we are optimistic that things will get back on track. Delhi doesn’t take a lot of time to get back on its feet,” said Chawla. The band has asked all its employees to get vaccinated as a safety measure. “We will follow all rules,” he said.
He said that many people are hoping to get married in the coming weeks since there were concerns about a possible third wave. “Cases are low and people want to fulfil their commitments since things are slightly better now,” said Chawla.