800 cops, dozens of excavators deployed in demolition drive near Somnath Temple

A part of the freed land, the Collector said, belonged to Shree Somnath Trust (SST), which manages the Somnath Temple, while the rest belonged to the state government. “The government had allotted some plots of land to Somnath Trust in the 1950s on a lease for 99 years. Over time, these plots were encroached. The matter had reached the Gujarat High Court in 1986 but the ruling had come in favour of the government. A lawsuit was filed again in 2006 and reached the Gujarat High Court one more time in 2020. But the court didn’t grant the encroachers any relief. Hence, the encroachments have been removed,” said Jadeja.

PK Laheri, retired chief secretary of Gujarat who is one of the trustees of SST, said, “The government had allotted land to the Trust. However, the Trust had surrendered some plots of that land to the government for construction of a circuit house and some other government offices. We are told that encroachments were there and that they have been removed during the demolition drive.”

Due process was followed before pulling down structures on Saturday, the Collector added. “Having failed to prove ownership of land on which the structures were standing, we had served notices to occupants around 20 days ago, asking them to demolish and remove debris within 15 days. Then again, we told them to demolish these structures on their own or else the government would do that. As they didn’t comply, we undertook the demolition drive after following the due process,” Jadeja said.

A total of 135 people were taken into preventive custody, he added. “We held a meeting with local community leaders on Friday and they had agreed to extend their cooperation. However, 135 people were taken into preventive custody to ensure that law and order is maintained during the drive,” Jadeja said.

Manoharsinh Jadeja, Superintendent of Police (SP), Gir Somnath, said that police had to use force at one place during the drive. “There was resistance to the drive and police had to use mild force to maintain law and order. Except that, no untoward incident was reported,” the SP said, adding, “Police have been deployed in Somnath and Veraval town as a precautionary measure.”

Meanwhile, Nusrat Panja, vice president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) and a community leader from Veraval, alleged that the demolition was “illegal”. “The structures demolished had history going back to around 700 to 800 years and had legal protection during reign of Nawab in the princely state of Junagadh. They were Waqf Board properties and had thus had legal protection post Independence also. But the Collector, and by extension, the government misinterpreted court judgements to demolish these structures,” the Congress leader said.

Panja further said, “A court in Veraval had ruled that Waqf tribunal was the competent forum to decide a civil suit about the said land. Therefore, the party concerned approached the tribunal and the tribunal had fixed October 11 as the date of hearing. But the Collector issued a notice to custodian of one of these structures on September 12, asking to prove ownership and fixed September 19 as date of hearing. The parties concerned moved the Gujarat High Court, seeking protection against any coercive action. The High Court had fixed October 8 as the date of hearing. But before that hearing, the Collector ordered demolition after giving a final warning on Friday,” Panja said.

Among the key Hindu pilgrim sites, Somnath is believed to be one of the 12 most sacred Lord Shiva shrines. Since the 11th century, the temple is said to have been repeatedly attacked, desecrated and plundered by foreign invaders. However, it was rebuilt every time. The existing temple was constructed after a resolution by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, first deputy prime minister of independent India, among others. Rajendra Prasad, the then president of India had performed the “installation ceremony for the temple” in 1951.

At present, the temple is owned and managed by Shree Somnath Trust (SST), a religious charitable trust, which is presently headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has, among others, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and veteran BJP leader LK Advani as its trustees.