The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into alleged bungling in transfer of land belonging to Ram Janaki Tapovan Mandir Trust.
A Division bench comprising Chief Justice PK Mohanty and Justice Ananda Sen directed the CBI to complete the inquiry within six months while hearing a PIl seeking a CBI inquiry into the alleged land scam where land worth crores, belonging to Ram Janaki Tapovan Mandir Trust, was sold out to private parties after making changes in the bylaws of the Trust. “The court has also directed the State Government to ensure restoration of land if the sale of land was found to be erroneous,” said petitioner’s advocate Amit Sinha. The petition was filed by Atish Kumar Singh demanding CBI inquiry into the case as more than 10 acres of land were sold out to the private parties by tampering the bylaws, he added.
“The court said that the land must be returned to the Trust if it has been transferred illegally to the other parties,” the advocate said.
The advocate further added that in the original deed prepared in the year 1948, 16.43 acres of land were transferred to the Trust by various devotees and a trust was set up to look after these lands, but more than 10 acres of land were sold out to the private parties by tampering the bylaws of the trust and only 6.43 acres of land were left as per the records of the trust in 2005.
“land worth crores was located at some of the posh areas like Hawai Nagar, Kusai Colony, Chappan Set, Niwaranpur and Morhabadi etc,” said the advocate. There was no provision of selling the said land as per the bylaws of the trust, but a provision for selling them out was made by tampering it and most of the land was sold out to the influential people and multi-storied buildings were constructed on them, he added.
After hearing arguments of both sides before vacation on April 27, the Court had kept the orders reserved and pronounced it on Wednesday.