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Court notice to Champat Rai, three others over Ayodhya land deal
The Trust said it plans to demolish the mandir for expansion of the area around the Ram Temple. Lawyers Ranjeet Lal Varma and Tarunjeet Lal Varma filed the civil suit on behalf of the petitioner, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, on Thursday in Ayodhya district court
A disciple of Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati of Dwarka Sharada Peeth has filed a civil suit seeking directives for preventing Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust, which is overseeing the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, from demolishing the nearby Fikerah Ram Mandir.
The Trust said it plans to demolish the mandir for expansion of the area around the Ram Temple.
Lawyers Ranjeet Lal Varma and Tarunjeet Lal Varma filed the civil suit on behalf of the petitioner, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, on Thursday in Ayodhya district court.
The court issued notices to Champat Rai, the general secretary of the Trust, Raghuvar Saran Das, the mahant of Fikerah Ram Mandir, in response to the suit.
“Fikerah Ram temple is a historic temple, and it should not be demolished. We have filed a civil suit against the Trust seeking directives from the court to stay the demolition of the temple,” said Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati.
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Champat Rai refused to comment on the matter.
The petitioner has sought the appointment of a receiver (custodian) to take care of the Fikerah Ram Mandir and to regulate rituals there.
The Trust said it has purchased three temples--Kaushalya Bhawan, Fikerah Ram Mandir, and Deen Kuti--for the expansion.
The three temples are around 250 to 300-year-old. The Fikerah Ram Mandir is the biggest of the three.
Mahant Raghuvar Saran said his temple is inside the Ram Janmabhoomi, where the Ram Temple is under construction. “I had no option but to accept the Trust’s offer to sell the land for expansion of Ram Mandir.”
The Trust has provided land to the Mahant for constructing the temple in Ramkot area, over a km away from away, in Ayodhya.
The Supreme Court paved the way for the Ram Temple construction in 2019 by awarding the disputed site to the Hindus. The temple is coming up in place of the demolished 16th-century Babri Mosque.
