Of Messiah, Message and Messed up Hindu Massage
Sid Harth
Gujarat temple trust flouts land lease laws
DARSHAN DESAI
GANDHINAGAR, NOV 8: This is the temple that was resurrected through
efforts made by Sardar Patel. This is the temple from which Union Home
Minister L K Advani started his Somnath to Ayodhya Rathyatra, which
catapulted the BJP to significance in national politics. The historic
Shiva Temple in Somnath is also the temple where the Somnath Trust has
been bending the law and getting away with it -- for the past 30 years.
It was in 1955 that the erstwhile Saurashtra Government allotted 20.6
lakh square metres of land in Veraval (Somnath), Patan and other
villages in Junagadh district on a 999-year lease to the trust.
Normally, leases are for 99 years, but this was a special case since
the trust manages a historic temple.
Since then irregularities have been rampant: The trust has sold off as
well as sub-leased land -- something that is clearly illegal. In
October 1968, the trust got permission from the Gujarat Government for
non-agricultural use of over 7.2 lakh square metres of land and sold it
to buyers for residential purposes. In August 1979, 8,735 square metres
was sub-leased by the trust to another party, which further sub-leased
it in June 1997.
A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General states that the trust
is guilty of gross violations of revenue and tenancy laws. However, the
trust, whose trustees today include Union Home Minister L K Advani and
Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, has disputed the state's claim.
According to the law, the trust could neither sell the land nor sub-
lease it. According to Section 73B of the Bombay Land Revenue Code,
read with Section 43 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act,
1948 (as applicable to Gujarat) and a State Government Resolution of
May 1980, when Government land is leased to any tenant, it cannot be
sold or sub-leased without the prior permission of the Government and
without payment of premium to the Government at 50 per cent of market
value.
In this case, a large part of the land has been sold off as well as sub-
leased without the State Government's permission and without payment of
the premium, which has been estimated at Rs 32.04 crore. The premium
recoverable by the State Government is over Rs 16 crore.
The CAG report of March 31, 1999 has taken serious note of the case and
indicted the Junagadh District Collector for not recovering Rs 16.03
crore ``on the misused land of 7,28,865 square metres by the trust.''
The ``gross violations'' came to light during test check of records at
the Junagadh Collectorate and the office of the Veraval Taluka
Development Officer.
When contacted, State Revenue Minister Vajubhai Vala feigned ignorance
but told The Indian Express that, ``Nobody can sell or sub-lease a
leased government land. The rules are very clear. I will look into
it.''
Junagadh District Collector Sunaina Tomar confirmed over the telephone
that the Collectorate has to recover the premium amount from the
Somnath Trust and that there has been ``violation of the lease
conditions.'' But she said the trust had disputed the State's claim to
the premium as well as the fact that it needed any permission from the
Government. ``We have written to the Government seeking advice in view
of the trust's arguments, but are yet to get a reply.''
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
http://www.hinduonline.com/today/stories/05091305.htm
No need to get agitated
Sir, - Much has been said and written for and against one's faith and
another's. It is futile to debate as to whose faith is `true' and/or
`superior.' Faith cannot be graded. Faith is different from religion
and church is different from Christianity. Both religion and church are
the organised, externalised aspects of faith, which can be good and
need not be good at times. When one calls for a `national' church the
immediate reaction is `Christianity is universal'. But why the call for
a national Christianity? Christ and his teachings are universal - then
why condition these to a centralised power centre? Is the Indian church
not mature enough and its hierarchy not capable to run and manage its
own affairs and disseminate the teachings of Christ? Why are people
getting flustered when reference is made to Indianise the church?
As a matter of fact a movement towards the Indianisation of the church
was initiated by the church which gained momentum in the early 60s.
Three centres to experiment with rites were opened in India (one in
Chennai). It is a fact that the missionaries not only preached Christ
but also imposed their western cultural aspects. Once this was
discerned Catholics did try to stem this trend and incorporate Indian
cultural practices even in their worship. Quite a number of Catholic
priests changed their foreign names to take Indian ones - examples: Fr.
Jacob SDB is Swami Vikrant and Fr. Correia-Affonso SJ is Paramananda
Diwarakar, etc.
The point mooted is that there is no need to get agitated if such views
emanate from the RSS leaders - it had long been the concern of Catholic
leaders too. One wonders where Christianity was before Christ and to
which religion did he belong. If he belonged to the Judai religion then
will it not be logical for Rome to accept that religion as the `true'
religion? Did Christ come to start a religion or was his birth,
struggle and death aimed at establishing a just society? These and many
are the questions that need to be pondered.
One fails to comprehend why we mortals have to array armies behind our
gods. Do the gods need our assistance to establish supremacy among
themselves? Should we not expend our energies towards fighting the ills
in the realm of mortals - like disease, hunger, poverty, violence, etc.
For to unleash violence and hatred against our own in the name of the
gods is the surest way to prove the ungodliness of the gods we proclaim
to worship.
Hilda Raja,
Chennai
http://www.hinduonline.com/today/stories/0409211v.htm
Bid to dislodge tribals from their habitat
By Our Staff Reporter
CHINNAR (Idukki), Nov. 8. Close on the heels of the Government's
attempt to usurp Adivasi land near Madupetti in the name of
development, yet another effort to dislodge, though indirectly,
Adivasis from their habitat has come to light at the Chinnar Wildlife
Sanctuary.
This time the residents of Malappulaya Colony at Champakkad, inside the
Chinnar Sanctuary, have found themseves at the receiving end of the
Government's efforts. The colony which could boast of one of the oldest
tribal hostels for girls, has all the infrastructure facilities needed--
a L.P. school for the tribal children, an ayurvedic dispensary,
quarters for the doctor, the warden of the hostel, school teachers and
the hospital staff and also an anganwadi. According to the Adivasis, 40
girl students from other colonies inside the sanctury were the inmates
of the hostel.
However, one fine morning, after the current academic year began, the
authorities suddenly shifted the hostel to Marayoor, nearly 16 km away.
The hostel is now functioning in a rented building and many of the
students have been shifted to the new premises and secured admission at
the Government school at Marayoor.
With their hostel closed down, the students who had been attending
classes at the LP School at Champakkad had a difficult time in finding
new facilities. Many of the hostel inmates belonged to tribal colonies
situated 10 km or more away from Champakkad colony. "Many of them have
relatives here and they are put up with these relatives," said one of
the residents.
"The school at one time had a strength of 100 students, but with the
hostel facilities taken away, the number has come down to less than 40
this year. Next year, it will be still lower and ultimately, the
authorities will close down the school," according to residents. The
shifting of the hostel was done on the basis of a `Government Order'
(issued six years ago, they say) which none of the colony members have
seen so far. Interestingly, no notice was given regarding the shifting
of the hostel. More intriguing is that none of the officials have
visited the colony in this connection. "Every time it is the peon who
come to our colony," says the PTA president of the school.
The authorities had to face stiff resistance from the colony members
when they came to take away the articles from the hostel. In fact, they
could not take away anything so far because of the resistance from the
residents. "Let the authorities come here in person and tell us what
prompted them to do this injustice," says the PTA president.
The colony members have sent a memorandum to authorities, but so far,
there had been no response, according to them.
In spite of lakhs of rupees spent to ensure infrastructure facilities
at the colony, the life for the Adivasis remains the same. A power line
goes past their colony, but they have no power; there is an ayurvedic
hospital, but there is no doctor. It is the part-time sweeper who looks
after their health needs and the nearest ration shop is 16 km away, at
Marayoor. With no jobs coming by (other than the seasonal works
provided by the Forest Department), they are waiting for the next
gooseberry season to commence--they will pluck the gooseberry and sell
it in the market to make a living.
Now they have at least the gooseberry to look forward to but, it
appears that if the Government's attempts to cast out the Adivasis from
their own habitat go on at this rate, in the coming years, even this
might turn to be a mirage.
http://www.hinduonline.com/today/stories/0409201d.htm
SC categorisation upheld by court
By Our Legal Correspondent
HYDERABAD, NOV. 8. A Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, comprising
five judges, by a majority judgment on Wednesday upheld the
constitutional validity of the A.P. Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation
of Reservation) Act, which was promulgated dividing the Scheduled
Castes in the State into four categories for the purpose of admissions
into educational institutions and employment.
The Bench, comprising the Chief Justice, Mr. M. S. Liberhan, Mr.
Justice Bilal Nazki, Mr. Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, Mr. Justice G.
Raghu Ram, and Mr. Justice V.V.V.S. Rao, was dismissing the batch of
writ petitions challenging the validity of the Act.
Mr. Justice Bilal Nazki differed with the other judges and held that
the Act was not constitutional. The majority view was delivered by the
Chief Justice in a 95-page judgment. It may be recalled that after a
prolonged agitation by one section of the SCs the Government called for
report from a commission and issued a GO categorising the SCs into four
groups. Each group was to get the benefit of reservation based upon the
population of the group. After the High Court struck it down the
Government approached the Supreme Court and then withdrew the case.
After the National Commission for SC and STs rejected the Government's
proposal, the Government issued an ordinance and then enacted the
impugned Act.
Various groups and individuals who opposed the categorisation
challenged the constitutional validity on the question of legislative
competence and violation of constitutional provisions like Article 341
and Article 16 etc.
The Chief Justice dwelt at length on the question of competence, and
declared that the State Legislature had the competence to enact a law
in this issue. It was made clear that there was no reason to oust the
jurisdiction of the State Legislature to enact in the matter regarding
the SCs. Dealing with the argument that the Act violated Article 341
(2), which says that Parliament alone can include or exclude a group
from the list of SCs, the court said that in the present case there was
no exclusion or inclusion. It was also made clear that it was not
colorable legislation. The court said that ``incisive sociological
analysis'' is not the duty of courts. ``The process of identification
of disparities amongst the sections of communities is a matter
essentially for the State in its legislative and executive spheres,''
the majority view said.
When counsel for the petitioners sought leave to approach the Supreme
Court, the Bench granted leave, but refused to stay the operation of
the judgment.
It may be recalled that the admission of the SC students in
professional courses could not be completed due to the pendency of the
case, and now the decks are cleared for the finalisation of admissions
based upon the categorisation.
http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/20001109/ina09016.html
Andhra HC upholds categorisation of SCs
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Hyderabad, Nov 8: Andhra Pradesh High Court, in a majority judgement,
today upheld the state Scheduled Castes Rationalisation of Reservation
Act providing for classification of SCs into four categories for
purpose of reservations in government jobs and educational
institutions.
A full-bench, headed by Chief Justice M S Liberhan, dismissed a writ
petition, filed by leaders of Mala Mahanadu, representing Mala sub-sect
of SCs, challenging validity of the Act classifying SCs into four goups
and fixing reservations in proportion to their population and
backwardness.
The Chief Justice said the objections raised against the legislation
were devoid of merit.
Of the five judges, who constituted the full-bench, Justice Bilal Zazki
differed with the majority opinion and held the state legislature has
no power to meddle with constitutional reservations pertaining to SCs.
However, other members of the bench Justice B Sudershan Reddy, Justice
Raghuram and Justice V V S Rao upheld the constitutional validity of
the SC Classification Act.
The petitioner P V Rao, president of Mala Mahanadu, had argued that any
change in percentage of reservations for SCs should be done only
through a constitutional amendment and the state legislature has no
such powers.
Following a prolonged agitation by `Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi'
(MRPS), espousing cause of higher reservations for Madiga sub-sect with
SCs, the state government took a decision in 1997 to categorise SCs
into four groups -- A,B,C,D -- and fix reservations as per their
population and social backwardness.
The categorisation issue was long embroiled in a politico-legal battle
that saw `Madiga' and `Mala' communities pitted against each other.
Based on the rcommendations of Justice Ramachandraraju Commission,
which went into the disparities among SC sub-sects, the state
government had decided to go in for categorisation.
As per the Commission's recommendations, out of the total 15 per cent
reservation for SCs, seven per cent was earmarked for Madiga community,
a numerically dominant yet backward among the SC sub-sects, six per
cent for Malas and one per cent each for `Relli' and `Adi Andhra'
groups.
The state assembly had passed the AP SC Rationalisation of Reservation
Bill in April this year.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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