Centre agrees to give land to build Ravidas temple

The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that it is willing to hand over 200 square metre area to a committee of devotees for the construction of a Guru Ravidas temple in South Delhi.

A bench of justices Arun Mishra and S Ravindra Bhat took on record the offer that attorney general KK Venugopal made, appearing for the Centre, and asked parties seeking the construction of a temple to submit objections, if any by Monday.

At the outset, Venugopal said he had held consultations with all parties, including devotees and government officials, and that the Centre has agreed to give the same piece of land, considering the sensitivity and the faith of devotees for the site.

“That same 200 square metre area of the site can be handed over to a committee of devotees for the construction of temple,” Venugopal said, adding that five of seven petitioners, who had approached the court against the demolition of the temple had agreed to the proposal. On October 4, the top court had asked the parties involved in a plea seeking permission to rebuild the Guru Ravidas temple in Delhi’s Tughlaqabad forest area to come back to it with an amicable solution on a better location for the temple.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had razed the 15th century temple in August on the orders of the Supreme Court, which had upheld a Delhi high court order.