Sant Ravidas Temple to be a permanent structure, not a wooden portacabin: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court earlier this week allowed a permanent structure to be constructed for the Sant Ravidas Temple in Delhi’s Tughlaqabad, as opposed to the wooden portacabin suggested by the Centre..The Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Surya Kant also allowed for a fence to be built enclosing the Gurudas pond on the premises of the Sant Ravidas Temple. The order was passed in an application filed by former Member of Parliament Ashok Tanwar and former Union Minister Pradeep Jain Aditya..The application sought a modification of the Court’s earlier order passed on October 21 to reflect that a permanent structure of the temple ought to be constructed. In the absence of the same, the Centre had suggested a wooden portacabin to be built in place of the temple. The same was inadvertently demolished by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) while complying with the Supreme Court’s orders for demolition of unauthorized structures..The Centre had, on October 18, told the Court that it was willing to allot the same land for the construction of the Sant Ravidas Temple in the interest of peace and harmony and the belief of the devotees. This proposal was made by the Centre in light of the Court’s direction to consider an alternate site for building the temple after the demolition of the same had caused a huge stir..On October 21, the Court had accepted the proposal made by the Centre for the construction of the shrine in an area measuring 400 square metres in the same spot where the temple stood earlier, as against the proposal of 200 square metres..While accepting the proposal, the Court had directed the Centre to set up a committee within a period of six weeks to oversee the construction of the temple. It was in this order of the Court that the modification was sought by the petitioners seeking clarification on the form of the temple..The Centre was represented by Attorney General for India KK Venugopal and the petitioners were represented by Senior Counsel Vikas Singh with Advocate Virag Gupta..[Read Order]