Recently, the Delhi High Court held that the local citizens will be entitled to use and enjoy the vacant land near the Geeta Bhawan temple located in Malviya Nagar as a park. The court said that it is clear from the facts presented that the ownership of the land in question is not with the temple management.

The ownership of the said land is being claimed by the Land and Development Department (L&DO) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The land dispute cannot be decided on this petition.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Mini Pushkarna said that the appellant society has already filed a suit regarding the ownership of the land; hence, it cannot claim title or any rights over the land. In view of the above facts, there is no error in the decision pronounced by the Single Bench, and the local citizens can enjoy the park under the directions passed by the Single Bench.

However, the bench also clarified that the said order will be subject to the decision of the suit filed by the society regarding the land.

The petitioner, the Geeta Prachar Sabha Society of Geeta Bhawan Temple, filed a petition challenging the decision passed by the single bench on August 21, 2023, regarding the use of 405 square meters of temple land near the temple as a green area for the local citizens as a park.

The petitioner society claimed that the said temple is 60 years old and occupies 1,111 square meters of land. It also claimed that the Rehabilitation Ministry declared its possession of the temple land without examining the documents and filed a petition in this regard. On April 19, 2023, the single bench passed an order to fence the said land on the petition of L&DO.

On receiving information about this, the Temple Society filed an application to be made a party in the case to pass a revised decision. On this, the single bench, in its order passed on August 21, said that the disputed land was never allotted in the name of the society.

In such a situation, L&DO will maintain the status quo of the said 405 square meter land as green area and plant saplings here. It was also ordered that the local citizens would be entitled to use the said land as a park.