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Supreme Court to hear plea on Ravidas temple construction
New Delhi
New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on Monday an application filed by former Haryana Congress president and ex-Member of Parliament (MP) Ashok Tanwar, seeking modification of the court’s earlier order that paved way for the construction of a Guru Ravidas temple in Tughlaqabad area of South Delhi.
Ashok Tanwar in his application said that “on 21.10.2019, it was submitted before the Hon ‘ble court that the Government’s offer of porta cabin made out of wood was not acceptable to the petitioners. Accordingly, the court had also said that the temple should be a permanent structure, and not a porta cabin”.
However, “perhaps due to a typographical error, the order reproduces the offer made by the Government of India without changing all its particulars. Therefore, two errors are apparent in the said order, that need to be changed,” the application says.
The temple in Tughlaqabad was demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on the top court’s directions. The court had ordered its razing after it was declared unauthorised and on forest land.
The order led to massive protests in parts of Punjab and in Delh. On the day DDA razed the temple, devotees of Guru Ravidas took to the roads in protest leading to massive jams around Tuglaqabad.
A group of devotees approached the top court with a request to let them continue to offer prayers at the site. The devotees in their petition said they should have been heard before the demolition order was passed as the action upset their right to faith.
On October 4, Supreme Court bench led by Justice Arun Mishra asked the petitioners’ lawyers to sit with attorney general KK Venugopal and find out an amicable solution.
Venugopal on October 21 submitted a memorandum of association to the court, saying the Centre had offered to allocate 400 metres of land for the temple. It proposed to hand over the land to a committee set up by the Centre for the construction of the temple .
However, the attorney general said the structure would be that of a porta cabin, which the court declined to accept and ordered construction of a permanent structure as per specifications finalised by the government.
