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HomeIndiaGovernanceHaryana govt withdraws orders that regularised 11 Dera Sacha Sauda properties

Haryana govt withdraws orders that regularised 11 Dera Sacha Sauda properties

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Punjab and Haryana HC had taken note of ThePrint’s report about how state govt had created a new revenue estate leading to regularisation of illegal dera properties.

Chandigarh: The Haryana government has withdrawn its orders that had exempted 11 properties of Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the controversial head of Dera Sacha Sauda who is now in jail, from ‘change of land use’ approvals and has declared them illegal.

In an affidavit filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court Wednesday, principal secretary in the department of town and country planning, Arun Kumar Gupta, said that the exemption granted to the dera on account of its properties falling within the abadi deh (the core area in a village where houses are located) of a newly carved out village has been withdrawn.

The affidavit also said that the applications moved by the dera for change of land use for 13 properties, including these 11, have been rejected. It also said that the buildings constructed on these lands are unauthorised and violate provisions of the town and country planning law.

On 20 September, ThePrint had reported that the Haryana government had carved out a new village and exempted 11 Dera properties from ‘change of land use’ approvals.

The report had also highlighted that the state government created a new revenue estate — village Shah Satnam Pura — on the outskirts of Sirsa, where the new dera is headquartered, resulting in the regularisation of a host of unauthorised dera constructions overnight.

The high court, which was hearing other matters arising out of the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim in rape cases, had taken note of ThePrint’s report. On 27 September, a full bench headed by Justice Suryakant asked the state government to submit its response to the report to the court.

The department of town and country planning subsequently filed three affidavits in the matter. In the latest affidavit filed Wednesday, the department made it clear that its exemption order of 11 properties of the dera (dated 31 December 2015, later kept in abeyance) has been withdrawn on 20 March this year. Subsequently on 28 March, the 13 pending applications of the dera for CLU of its various buildings/constructions have also been rejected.

These 13 constructions include a food godown, a soap godown, two farm houses, a boy’s hostel, a cricket stadium, a dharamshala, among others. The affidavit said that a majority of these buildings are unauthorised as these have been built on agricultural land. There are also buildings that do not meet the minimum area conditions laid down in the rules while a few do not have a proper approach to their sites.

Senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who is assisting the full bench in the dera cases, told the court Wednesday that a report be sought from the state government on how the deputy commissioner of Sirsa issued a map of the newly carved village delineating its abadi deh and lal dora (the red line on the village map), which was later found to be “invalid”.

The Haryana government, he added, should also tell the court the “pressing” necessity of carving out a whole new village including precisely the lands owned by the dera. The full bench has asked the departments of revenue and panchayats to respond to these questions.

The next hearing is due on 15 May.

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