Patna, Dec. 24: A controversy has erupted over the tent city meant to house Prakash Utsav devotees following a local court's directive for an inquiry into whether the structures have been erected on a disputed plot of land.
The tent city - a cluster of huts built by the state tourism department for the festival - is located near Kangan Ghat in Patna City sub-division. Thousands of devotees are expected to reach Patna over the next few days to take part in the Prakash Utsav, marking the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh who was born in Patna.
The order for an inquiry was issued on December 21 by a Patna City court headed by sub-judge-III Ashutosh Kumar Rai. He directed the Chowk police station house officer (SHO) to explain within 15 days whether an injunction order passed by the same court in 1995 on the disputed land was being enforced or not.
The court order for an inquiry came on a complaint filed by one Bal Manohar Jalan on December 5 this year, alleging that the tent city was being set up on the disputed land in violation of the order of the court.
"I had to draw the attention of the court as my earlier plea before the district magistrate fell on deaf ears," Jalan, a resident of Quila House, told the court.
Sources said the work on the tent city started in the first week of October. Jalan had submitted a petition to the Patna district magistrate on October 19 seeking his intervention to stop construction work. However, no action was taken.
The judge has also directed the SHO - with copies to the inspector-general (Patna zone), Patna district magistrate and the senior superintendent of police - to inspect the disputed land and restrict the defendants if they were found to have violated the order passed by the court on September 29, 1995.
One Asarfi Rai, a resident of Raghopur in Vaishali district, and 27 others had been made accused in the suit filed in the court in 1995.
Jalan, in his petition, said the order of injunction restricting the defendants from dispossessing him from the land had been confirmed by the high court in 1996. Since then, no construction work has ever been carried out on the land spread over an area of 32 acres.
Patna civil court lawyer Anil Kumar Sinha said an injunction order restricted persons concerned from visiting the disputed site and also carrying out any construction work without permission of the court.
Sources said the tents have been erected by the state tourism department on around six acres of land near Kangan Ghat to accommodate around 5,000 devotees expected to visit the city from December 25 to January 7 next year.
Both Patna district magistrate Sanjay Agrawal and senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj said they had no idea about any court order in this connection.
However, a police official, Upendra Kumar, who was deputed at the Chowk police station, confirmed that the order of the court had been received.
