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SC refuses to stay HC demolition order of Jamshedpur temple
The Supreme Court upheld the Jharkhand High Court's order to demolish the Mahalakshmi Temple, rejecting a stay request, with a hearing set for March 16.
The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday refused to stay the Jharkhand High Court’s (HC) January 14 order to demolish the Mahalakshmi Temple building governed by the Thakurbari Marwari Trust under Sakchi police station in Jamshedpur, lawyers close to the development said.
“The SC bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta refused to grant stay order after hearing the special leave petition by Kamal Agarwal challenging the HC’s demolition order for the 24 buildings, including Thakurbari Lakshmi Temple under Sakchi PS. The court will hear the case again on March 16,” Rishav Ranjan, representing Rakesh Jha, the original petitioner against illegal constructions in Jamshedpur, told HT on Wednesday.
“I told the Honourable SC bench that the land on which the temple of the Thakurbari Marwari Trust now stands was originally granted by its tribal owner to a Bengali Trust in 1904 when there was neither Tata Steel nor Jamshedpur in existence. This temple is vested with the Jharkhand Hindu Trust Board as per the Patna High Court judgement of 1976. A private trust of some private persons (Thakurbari Marwari Trust) captured it’s land and constructed a B+G+4 (basement+ground-4 storeys) commercial complex without any sanctioned plan by JNAC. It’s bank accounts are also seized by the order of the Jharkhand HC in WPC (3866 of 2020). The SC double bench studied the HC order and then refused to stay the HC’s demolition order,” added Ranjan.
Jharkhand HC single bench of Justice SN Pathak on December 11, 2023 had ordered the East Singhbhum district deputy commissioner to seize the entire financial transaction of the private trust committee as well as the account of the commercial complex which will remain stopped till further order.
“Jharkhand Religious Trust Board is also directed to file a specific affidavit as to whether the temple in question has been constituted under the authority of the government or whether private trust committee was authorised to make such construction and constitute any committee on their choice,” the HC order of Justice SN Pathak had ruled.
