Alirajpur (Madhya Pradesh): On September 7, 2021, a Supreme Court bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice AS Bopanna said that 'pujari' or priest can only hold the temple land for the purpose of management of the property of the temple. A priest cannot be treated as Bhumiswami (owner of land) and the deity is the owner of the land attached to a temple.
Meanwhile, challenging the apex court ruling, in Alirajpur, a priest has built a shopping complex on the temple land for personal benefits. Land was donated to Khedapati Hanuman temple at Pancheshwar Marg in Alirajpur in 1942.
Matter came to fore when temple priests Ramesh Chandra Ojha and Suresh Chandra Ojha, both sons of Kanhiyalal Ojha, gradually built a shopping complex on the roadside and rented out shops for their own benefit. Following this, the family of the owner of the land raised objection over construction on donated land. Land owner also lodged a complaint on the PM and CM Helpline as well as took matters to the municipality and the court.
According to the terms of the donation letter, the temple premises should be kept according to the conditions mentioned in the donation letter and should not be used for commercial purposes.
Meanwhile, those who are managing the temple did not follow the terms and conditions of the donation letter and converted the donated place into a commercial complex.
Old Shiva temple is situated between two complexes, at the time of construction of the complex, priests’ family did not bother to renovate the dilapidated temple and now the devotees and locals raised questions over the intention of the priest.
WHAT IS THE MATTER?
According to information, Satyanarayan Laddha alias Sattu Munim of Maheshwari Samaj submitted an application in the municipality, in which he mentioned that a land donated by his grandfather Bhagwan Das to Sant Ramanand Guru Krishnanand, who offered prayers in Hanuman temple in 1942, which is presently near BJP office in Hanuman Mandir.
In order to prevent misuse of this land in future, the donor has mentioned in the donation letter that donors have the right to take back the donated land if misuse of land or non-compliance of the conditions mentioned in the donation letter was detected.
Due to the observance of the conditions mentioned in the donation letter, the donated land and temple are with Kanhaiyalal Ojha, son of Sant Ramanand Guru Krishnanand and his family on the basis of their own conditions.
However, one of Kanhaiyalal’s son, Ashok Ojha filed a suit in the District Court regarding partition against his other siblings. In the petition, he also mentioned land donated to this temple.
The decision passed on January 2, 2018 clearly stated that the land donated by Bhagwan Das was non-transferrable. It has also been clarified in the same court order that Kanhaiyalal, who receives donations on the land, has no ownership, the court had also directed that the land be donated for planting flowers and other medicinal plants.
After a while, family members of Kanhaiyalal who received the donation got the said land transferred from the municipality in their name and were now also preparing to earn money by constructing the commercial complexes there.
KANHAIYALAL HAS NO RIGHT TO DIVIDE LAND
According to the district court’s decision, division of land was not possible. So registration of land in the name of Sureshchandra Ojha, Rameshchandra Ojha, Purnima and Jyoti, should be cancelled. During investigation it was also revealed that Sureshchandra Ojha was a Najul officer. He used his office to get the land transferred and it was a clear case of misuse of his position.
(With inputs from Deepak Rathore)
