Supreme Court paves way for Ramleela Dussehra fair in Kashipur, stays Uttarakhand HC judgment

The Supreme Court yesterday paved the way for holding Dussehra-Ramleela fair in the Ramleela Maidan, Kashipur by staying a judgment of the Uttarakhand High Court relating to the title of the land..The order staying the Uttarakhand High Court judgment was passed by a Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and S Abdul Nazeer..The Court also made it clear that Ramleela functions can be conducted on the disputed property..The appeal against the Uttarakhand High Court judgment was filed by Ramleela Committee, Kashipur (petitioner)..As per the petition, the Committee, a registered society, has been conducting Ramleela and Dusshera Fair in the Ramleela Maidan, Kashipur for the past many years..The petition states that the disputed land was gifted to the petitioner by the predecessor of respondent no. 3, Raja Udai Raj Singh way back in the 1900s..“Since then its been more than 100 years the Petitioner conducting the Ramleela and Dusshera Fair every year”, the petition states..A dispute arose in the 1940s as regards the title of the land. The same was decreed in favour of the petitioner in 1946..Subsequently, in 2007, respondent no. 3 filed an application before the Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) alleging that registration of the society of the Petitioner was not renewed and hence the property in question should be recorded in the name of the applicant/respondent..The said application was rejected by the SDM. Respondent No.3 again moved an application under section 33/39 of the Land Revenue Act for rectification of name from Manager Ramlila Committee to RamlilaMaidan. The said application was also dismissed by an order dated September 27, 2010. Respondent no. 3 moved a revision petition against the same before the Assistant Chief Revenue Commissioner who set aside the order of September 27 and allowed the prayer of respondent no. 3..Aggrieved by the order of Assistant Chief Revenue Commissioner, the petitioner filed a Writ Petition before the Uttarakhand High Court..The High Court, however, dismissed the same and held that the petitioner is not the owner of the property. This led to the current appeal in Supreme Court..It is the petitioner’s contention that High Court failed to consider the legal aspect of the Section 33/39 of Land Revenue Act and held that the petitioner is not the owner of the property..It was neither the subject matter before the Court nor the dispute before the court below with respect to the title as the same was decided way back in 1946 and cannot be reopened for the third time, the petition states..The Court after hearing the parties ordered a stay on the Uttarakhand High Court judgment for three months..“There will be stay of further proceedings pursuant to the impugned Judgment. The stay is limited to a period of three months, within which the parties agree that the pleadings can be completed and the matter can be finally heard.”.The Court also made it clear that since all the proceedings have been stayed, Ramleela functions can be conducted at the disputed site..“Since all further proceedings have been stayed, the ‘Ramleela’ functions can be conducted as in the past.”.The matter is now listed for hearing in the first week of December..Senior Advocates PN Mishra and SR Singh and advocates Ankur Prakash, Neeraj Jha, Alok Kumar Pandey, Pratima Singh and Sakshi Kakkar appeared for the petitioners. Advocate JP Dhanda appeared for the respondents..Read the order below.