Qutub Minar Row: Delhi Court Defers Judgment On Appeals For Temple Restoration, To Hear Fresh Impleadment Application First

A Delhi Court on Thursday deferred judgment in the appeals preferred against a Civil Judge order dismissing the suit which alleged that the Quwwat-Ul-Islam Masjid situated within Qutub Minar Complex was built in place of a temple complex and sought restoration of the same.Additional District Judge Nikhil Chopra had reserved the order on last month. As the Judge was transferred to Rouse Avenue Court, the matter was listed before ADJ Dinesh Kumar. The order was deferred after a counsel mentioned before the Court that a fresh impleadment application under Order 1 Rule 10 of CPC has been moved on behalf of one Kunwar Mahendra Dhwaj Prasad Singh through Advocate ML Sharma.In this backdrop, the Judge said that no order will be pronounced today and that it will hear the fresh application first.The application will now be taken up for submissions on August 24. In the meanwhile, reply is to be filed by the parties.Counsels for both ASI and the plaintiffs submitted before the Court that they are opposing the said impleadment application.About Impleadment Application The applicant states that he is Karta of Beswan Family, being heir of Raja Rohini Raman Dhawaj Prasad Singh who died in the year 1950. According to the application, the family known as Beswan Family were by origin Jats descended from Raja Nand Ram who had died in 1695. The application avers that the Jat consideration had became firmly establish at the death of Shahjahan in the year 1658 and during the war time ensured for the possession of throne, Raja Nand Ram a great grandson of Makan found means to establish himself as head of his tribe and supported by the poarch Raja of Daryapur. "Nand Ram refused to pay the Land Tax but succeeded in incorporating several villages not owned by Jats into the Jat Tappa of Joar. When Aurangzeb became firmly established on the throne, Nand Ram submitted to the emperor and was rewarded with the Khidmat Zamidarir, revenue management of Joar and Tochigarh," the application reads.The application then submits that during the lifetime of Raja Rohini Raman Dhawaj Prasad Singh in 1947, another Ruler from the said family, the British India and provinces became free and independent and that he was the owner of Beswan Avibajya Rajya Beswan Estate Hathras Estate, Musran Estate and Brindaban Estate from Mahabharata Period, from Meerut to Agra between the Ganga, Jammuna till his death in the year 1950.It further states that after the death of Raja Rohini Raman Dhawaj, properties were inherited by his legal heirs i.e. 4 sons and two widows (including the applicant) as per law of 1950. Ancestral land and properties continued in Beswan family for generation since 1695 AD. The plea states that no merger was signed for "Beswan Avibhajya Rajya Beswan and Beswan Families Beswan Estate Ancestral land and properties which continued to be inherited for generation since 1873 to 1950.The applicant claims that after Independence of India in 1947, the Indian Government neither entered into any treaty, nor there was any accession, nor there was any merger agreement with the Beswan Avibhajya Rajya Beswan. It has been claimed that there was no acquisition process and hence the Beswan Avibhajya Rajya of Beswan family is as on date the status of princely state, independent and own and hold all the territories of united province of Agra running between the river Jumuna & Ganga from Agra to Meerut, Aligarh, Bullandshahr and Gurgaon."That the Central Govt., State Govt. of Delhi and State Govt of U.P. without due process of law encroached upon the legal rights of the applicant and misused the power, allotted, allocated and death with the property of the applicant," the application adds.Accordingly, it has been argued that the area under the South Delhi false within the legal rights of the applicant. Qutub Minar, centre of the controversy, is situation in the said jurisdiction.It has thus been averred that any judgment in the matter would injure the legal rights of the applicant.About the Main SuitIn the original suit, the plaintiffs alleged that around 27 Hindu and Jain temples were desecrated and damaged raising the construction of the said Mosque in place of those temples.The civil judge had rejected the suit after noting that the suit was barred by the provisions of the Places of Worship Act 1991 and rejected the plaint under Order 7 Rule 11(a) of Civil Procedure Code for non-disclosure of cause of action.The Civil judge had also observed that the wrongs of the past cannot be a basis for disturbing the present peace and that if it's allowed, fabric of constitution, secular character will be damaged.Arguments before CourtIs right to worship a fundamental or legal right?In appeal, seeking restoration of deities and permission to resume worship, Hari Shankar Jain, one of the appellants, submitted, "It is the admitted position is for the last 800 years, it wasn't used by the Muslims. When there is a temple which was in existence much before the mosque, why ...

Qutub Minar Row: Delhi Court Defers Judgment On Appeals For Temple Restoration, To Hear Fresh Impleadment Application First

Nupur Thapliyal

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