E-Paper
Gujarat HC upholds govt decision to acquire Asaram Ashram land in Motera
The land is located next to the Narendra Modi Stadium and the Sardar Patel Sports Complex in Ahmedabad
The Gujarat high court on Thursday upheld the state government’s decision to acquire an 11-acre land parcel in Ahmedabad’s Motera, which had been given to self-styled godman Asaram-run ashram decades earlier.
A bench of justice Vaibhavi D. Nanavati dismissed a plea filed by Sant Shri Asharam Ashram after the government pleader GH Virk defended the government’s decision to reclaim control over the land parcel spread across 45,000 square metres.
The land is located next to the Narendra Modi Stadium and the Sardar Patel Sports Complex in Ahmedabad, an area identified by the state as critical for sports and urban infrastructure, including plans linked to the Commonwealth Games 2030.
Virk told the bench that the land, originally granted decades ago for limited religious use, was subject to strict conditions.
These conditions barred commercial activity and unauthorised construction. But officials said inspections revealed that the ashram had expanded far beyond the permitted area and raised multiple structures without approval.
The state government also noted that the ashram had repeatedly sought the regularisation of these structures, which it argued amounted to an admission of illegality.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation rejected applications seeking the regularisation of over 30 unauthorised structures at the site for violations of planning and land-use norms.
The ashram’s founder, Asaram, was convicted in 2018 by a special court in Jodhpur in a rape case involving a minor and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was also convicted in a separate rape case filed by a woman disciple from Surat, in which a Gandhinagar court awarded him life imprisonment.
