Ahmedabad, Apr 17: The Gujarat High Court on Friday rejected appeals filed by self-styled godman Asaram’s ashram in Ahmedabad against the takeover of land to develop sports infrastructure ahead of the 2030 Commonwealth Games, citing violations and encroachment.
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.
Sant Shri Asharam Trust, which manages the ashram, had moved an appeal in the division bench 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 division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice DN Ray dismissed the pleas, observing 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 also noted that the trust had illegally occupied land from 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 court stated in its order.
It also rejected the trust’s request for a four-week stay on its order to challenge it in the higher court, after the government pleader informed the bench that the petitioner will be issued a fresh notice of eviction, giving it considerable time to carry out the same.
The trust had challenged the Gujarat Revenue Tribunal’s order dismissing its petition for notices by the mamlatdar 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.
Asaram (84) was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013. In January 2023, a court in Gandhinagar also sentenced him to life imprisonment in another rape case.
The Gandhinagar court had convicted Asaram in a 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. (PTI)
