HC grants status quo on memorial of spiritual leader

The status quo was granted last week by a bench headed by Justice A M Khanvilkar who heard a petition filed by some villagers of Bamangaon group gram panchayat in Alibag taluka alleging unlawful acquisition of 12 acre land by the state government without following procedures.

Late Dharmadhikari, who has a huge following in the state, had devoted 60 years of his life in public service in Raigad district on Konkan Coast of Maharashtra. Dharmadhikari died in Pune in 2008.

On March 28, 2011, the Urban Development department had directed Raigad Collector to take possession of the land. On the same day, Collector took possession of the land and made entries in the land record, the petition, filed by Ashok Raut and Prabhakar Raut alleged.

The petition has taken objection to the acquisition of land for erecting memorial for the Spiritual leader, saying that the land is currently used for grazing cattle and this practice has been going on since time immemorial.

Also, proper procedures were not followed in land acquisition, it alleged.

The petition argued that Collector had not given a hearing to the villagers on acquisition of land. This is against the principle of natural justice, the petitioners said, adding that their fundamental rights have been violated by the impugned decision to acquire the land.

They cited a rule that if the possession of land is with gram panchayat, then the government can acquire it only if the land is needed for national or state development project, provided the gram panchayat does not require the land.

The petitioners urged the Court to quash the Urban Development's order of March 28 last year and grant a status quo on the project.