Transfer of land owned by Dalit to trust in 1996 illegal, says Ayodhya court

A court of assistant record officer, Bhan Singh, last week passed the order while hearing a case challenging the transfer of land in Manjha Barhata village in Ayodhya district to the Maharishi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust

A local court in Ayodhya has deemed illegal the transfer of 13 acre of land owned by Dalit to the Maharishi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust in 1996 and ordered the same be transferred back to the state government, people familiar with the development said on Friday.

On December 22 last year, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered a probe into all such land purchase in Ayodhya involving officials of the state government, their relatives and politicians. (ANI)

A court of assistant record officer, Bhan Singh, last week passed the order while hearing a case challenging the transfer of land in Manjha Barhata village in Ayodhya district to the Maharishi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust.

The case was registered on the orders of the then Ayodhya district magistrate, Anuj Jha, after conducting a probe on the complaint by one Mahadev, a native of Banwari Purva of Ayodhya, against transfer of land to the Trust. The probe found the complaint genuine, people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

The Trust got the land transferred in its name through one of its workers Ronghai, a Dalit, on October 22, 1996. The transfer was carried out without seeking approval of the district magistrate, the people said.

“The Trust used Ronghai as a conduit for the land deal. Thereafter, the it got the land transferred in its name from Ronghai without approval of the then district magistrate,” one of the people said.

As per the case details, some officials of the Uttar Pradesh government and their relatives have allegedly purchased land from the Maharishi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust.

“The Maharishi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust, state government officials and their relatives who had bought land in Manjha Barhata and Shahnawazpur villages are under the scanner of the team probing the Ayodhya land purchase deals, involving senior officials and politicians of the state,” one of the people said.

On December 22 last year, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had ordered a probe into all such land purchase in Ayodhya involving officials of the state government, their relatives and politicians.

According to legal experts, registries of all those who had purchased land from the Maharishi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust in Manjha Barhata Trust will now stand null and void.

As per Section 98(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code, 2006, no bhumidhar (land owner) belonging to a Scheduled Caste shall have the right to transfer, by way of sale, gift, mortgage or lease any land to a person not belonging to a Scheduled Caste, except with the previous permission of the collector in writing.