2030 Commonwealth Games: SC orders status quo on Asaram's ashram land

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered status quo till May 4 on the land allotted to self-styled "godman" Asaram's ashram in Ahmedabad that the Gujarat government wants to take over to develop sports infrastructure ahead of the 2030 Commonwealth Games.

More than 45,000 sq metres of land on which the ashram stands in Motera near the Narendra Modi Stadium is to be used for the proposed Sardar Patel Sports Complex.

The Sant Shri Asharam Trust, which manages the ashram, has challenged in the apex court the April 17 order of the Gujarat High Court rejecting its appeals against the takeover of land on the grounds of violation of lease conditions and encroachment.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta asked the Gujarat government to place before it all relevant records related to the land in dispute, as it prima facie observed that notices were not served to Asaram's Trust.

The bench asked the Solicitor General to file all relevant records within three days and gave the Trust another three days, while directing that a status quo on the disputed land property be maintained till the next date of hearing.

It posted the matter for further hearing next Monday.

Justice Mehta told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Gujarat government, that prima facie it appears that notices were not served to the petitioner trust.

Mehta submitted that there were several violations of the lease conditions and encroachment of government land, and maintained that proper notices were issued.

Justice Nath told Mehta, "You yourself have been very benevolent. First you granted a lease for 6261 square metres, and then again you granted a lease for more land, and now, overnight, you want the lease should go."

Mehta submitted that more than 30 buildings have been constructed on the land without any permissions.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Trust, said that the land was allotted for the Ashram, allied social activities and a school and there was no violation of lease conditions.

"These land parcels are being acquired wrongfully, illegally and allotment is sought to be cancelled," Rohatgi said, adding that over six thousand square meters was given to the charitable trust in 1960.

Mehta assured the bench that he was giving his word that not a single brick would be demolished till the next date of hearing on May 4 and urged it not to put on record its direction on status quo and no coercive action.

The bench, however, ordered that the status quo should be maintained with regard to any demolition measure on the property.

Asaram (84), who has been serving life imprisonment for raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013, is currently out on bail on medical grounds.

In January 2023, a court in Gandhinagar also sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment in another case registered in 2013 for raping a woman disciple, who hailed from Surat, on several occasions between 2001 and 2006 when she was living at his Motera ashram.

The division bench of the high court had dismissed the appeals filed by the Trust against the land takeover after a single bench judge of the high court had dismissed its pleas challenging eviction notices issued by the revenue authorities over allegations of encroachment and breach of conditions of allotment and regularisation.

The high court had observed that the Trust not only violated the conditions of the allotment and regularisation orders of grant of government land but also encroached upon a substantial area of open land surrounding the allotted plots.

It had also noted that the Trust had illegally occupied land in the Sabarmati River belt over the years.

"In the totality of the facts and circumstances of the present case, none of the prayers made in the writ petition can be granted. There is no question of regularisation of the riverbed land encroached upon by the petitioner. Any such indulgence will be contrary to the decision of the apex court," the high court had stated in its order.

The Trust had moved the High Court against the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal's order dismissing its petition for notices by the mamlatdar (revenue officer) to hand over the possession of the land.

It argued that the orders are premeditated, as the land is being taken under the guise of encroachment and breach of conditions to facilitate the government's proposal to build a sports enclave and use the land for the proposed Olympic Games.