October 12, 2018:

On Thursday, Supreme Court paved the way for holding Dussehra-Ramleela fair in the Ramleela Maidan, Kashipur by sticking to judgment of Uttarakhand High Court relating to the Title of the Land.

The order was passed by a Bench comprising of Justice Kurian Joseph & Justice S Abdul Nazeer.

Court also made it clear that Ramleela functions can be conducted on the 'Disputed Property'.

Appeal against the Judgment of Uttarakhand High Court was filed by Ramleela Committee, Kashipur.

According to the petition, the Committee which is a Registered Society, has been conducting Ramleela and Dusshera Fair in the Ramleela Maidan, Kashipur for many of the past years.

Petition states that the 'Disputed Land' was gifted to the petitioner by the predecessor of Raja Udai Raj Singh way back in the 1900s.

Petition states,“Since then its been more than 100 years the Petitioner conducting the Ramleela and Dusshera Fair every year.”

Dispute arose in the 1940 regarding the Title of the Land. The same was decreed in favour of the petitioner in 1946.

Then in 2007, Respondent no. 3 filed an application before the Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) putting up allegations that registration of the society of the Petitioner was not renewed & hence the property in question should be recorded in the name of the applicant/respondent.

Said application was rejected by the SDM. Respondent No.3 again moved an application under section 33/39 of the Land Revenue Act for rectification of name from Manager Ramlila Committee to RamlilaMaidan.

This application was also dismissed by an order dated September 27, 2010. Respondent no. 3 moved a revision petition against the same before the Assistant Chief Revenue Commissioner who set aside the order of September 27 and allowed the prayer of respondent no. 3.

Petitioner though filed a Writ Petition before the Uttarakhand High Court.

However the High Court dismissed it & held that the petitioner is not the 'owner of the property' which led to the Current Appeal in Supreme Court.

Petitioner contented that High Court failed to consider the 'Legal Aspect' of the Section 33/39 of Land Revenue Act & held that the petitioner is not the Owner of the Property.

Though the petition states that it was neither the subject matter before the Court nor the dispute before the court below with respect to the title as the same was decided way back in 1946 and can't be reopened for the 3rd time.

Court after hearing the parties ordered a stay on the Uttarakhand High Court judgment for 3 months, stated,“There will be stay of further proceedings pursuant to the impugned Judgment. The stay is limited to a period of three months, within which the parties agree that the pleadings can be completed and the matter can be finally heard.”

The Court also made it clear that since all the proceedings have been stayed, Ramleela functions can be conducted at the Disputed Site.

The matter is now listed for hearing in December first week.

Senior Advocates PN Mishra and SR Singh and advocates Ankur Prakash, Neeraj Jha, Alok Kumar Pandey, Pratima Singh and Sakshi Kakkar appeared for the petitioners. Advocate JP Dhanda appeared for the respondents.

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