Political toolkit Against Land Deal of Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra; Read the Factsheet

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, in March 2021, through its General Secretary Champat Rai executed an Agreement to buy an additional piece of land for the purposes of additional construction to facilitate pilgrims who would be travelling to the Ram Temple.

General Secretary Mr. Rai has been on record stating that the land surrounding the temple land was being acquired for several reasons, including Vaastu considerations, building facilities for pilgrims etc.

Lets have the facts around this – the 1.208 Ha land was decided to be purchased by the Trust at Rs 18.5 Cr. from one Sultan Ansari and one Ravi Mohan Tiwari. Ansari and the others had in turn bought the same land at just Rs 2 crore from one Kusum Pathak.

The specific land in question has been embarked on for acquisition by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra near the Ayodhya railway station to build a facility for the pilgrims who would be visiting the temple after it is constructed.

Sanjay Singh, of the Aam Aadmi Party had used the sale deed of the earlier transaction between Ansari and Kusum and the Agreement to Sell between Ansari and the Trust to allege a “scam” in the procurement of this land by the temple trust. Aam Aadmi Party’s leader Sanjay Singh alleged that Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra through its General Secretary Champat Rai bought a piece of land at higher price. While, Samajwadi Party has also made similar allegations against it.

He claimed that the land value was estimated at Rs.2 crore during the registry, but the Trust made an additional payment of Rs.18.5 crore to the seller just five minutes later. While the transactions were made in the name of Champat Rai, General Secretary, trust member Anil Mishra and Rishikesh Upadhyay, Mayor were witnesses to the registry. He also demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Department (ED) in the matter.

However, the factsheet does not prove what Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party is claiming here.  The Garhwa Post having the possession of fact sheet/documents that can explain the truth versus hype being created in public domain. As Reported by Opindia.

AAP has claimed that Ansari and others bought the land from Kusum on 18 March 2021 and sold it to the Ram Mandir Trust just after 15 minutes. How can the price of the land rise exponentially in just 15 minutes?

Let’s strict to the fact that both the documents put up by AAP, the sale deed of the land from Kusum to Ansari and the Agreement to Sell between Ansari to the temple trust were executed on the same day. According to Aam Aadmi Party, since both the documents were executed on the same day, in a span of 15 minutes, the entire transaction happened on the same day itself, therefore, the price increase from Rs 2 crores to Rs 18.5 crores points towards a scam.

As per the registered agreement, it states that Ansari was allowed 3-year time period to pay the rest of the amount (Rs 1.5 crores) to Kusum for the purchase of the land. The Rs 1.5 crore meant to be paid by September 2022. Since an advance was paid and the agreement was registered, Kusum could not back out of the deal simply because the land prices rose after the 9th November 2019 after the Ayodhya verdict by the Supreme Court. Therefore, she was obligated to sell her land to Ansari at Rs 2 crores itself.

It is important to mention here that Kusum and Ansari had drawn up, executed and registered an “Agreement to Sell” in 2019, not a “Sale Deed”. Kusum had received an advance of Rs 50 lacs for the land and the rest of the Rs 1.5 crores was set to be paid to her by Ansari over a span of 3 years. These details were mentioned in the Agreement to Sell.

At that point of time, Kusum and Ansari executed an “Agreement to Sell”, which essentially means in this case that an agreement was drawn up about the price of the land, the advance given, the remaining amount to be paid and a deadline, by which the payment was to be clear. The title transfer of the land had not happened, and for that, a “sale deed’ would need to be executed (which had not happened after 2019).

Therefore, in 2021, when the temple trust was buying the land from Ansari, the temple trust insisted that a “Sale Deed” is drawn up and registered, where the title itself was transferred from Kusum to Ansari, so the title is not disputed later. This ‘Agreement to Sell’ was consummated when a Sale Deed was executed between the two on 18.03.2021. Ansari’s title in the land was perfected on this date though the transaction was conceptualised and framed prior to Ayodhya Verdict in 2019 in terms of the Agreement to Sell. The price was at the value given in the 2019 Agreement to Sell.

It is an established fact that the land prices surrounding Ram Janmabhoomi and even in the rest of Ayodhya increased exponentially after the Supreme Court verdict. In December 2019 itself, Forbes had published an article detailing the realty price rise in Ayodhya.

In the article, Forbes quotes a property dealer saying that “The rates have increased up to six folds after the Supreme Court passed its verdict”. He claims that after the illegal structure was demolished, many Hindu and Muslim families had sold their property and moved out of Ayodhya, however, now the price of properties have increased exponentially.

In 2019 itself, the property dealer had said, “In a 4-km radius from the proposed Ram temple site, rates have tripled, from Rs 400 per square foot to Rs 1,200 per square foot”. If within a month of the verdict the property rates increased that much, 2 years on when the construction of the temple is well on its way, one can safely conclude that an increase in land price from Rs 2 crores to Rs 18.5 crores is not unfathomable.

The temple trust could have bought the land directly from Kusum if the original sale agreement could have been rescinded. However, since Kusum was already given Rs 50 lacs as advance by Ansari, there was no way that Kusum could have not honoured her agreement, without being liable for huge compensation payable to Ansari and making the property a subject of a long drawn legal battle.

She would have to compensate Ansari as per the current market rate which would have eroded her profits anyway. The temple trust could not have bought the land from Kusum directly since Kusum was legally bound to sell the land to Ansari at Rs 2 crores (price agreed upon in 2019, before the Ayodhya verdict) and this would have involved a complicated and long-drawn legal battle.

It is also hilarious that the journalists and Aam Aadmi Party who talk of ethics and propriety wanted Kusum to break a valid and legitimate contractual arrangement to earn more unethical profit. Below given facts that need to be taken into consideration as far as this case is concerned.

The original ‘Agreement to Sell’ was done between Kusum and Ansari in September 2019, for Rs 2 crores at the then-prevailing market rates. (There was no ‘sale deed’ and therefore, no title transfer in the name of Ansari).

At that time, there was no sale deed drawn up and therefore, the title was not clear with Ansari. By 2021, the price of the land increased exponentially due to the Ayodhya verdict and Bhumi Poojan of Ram Mandir.

The temple trust then decided to acquire that land from Ansari in 2021 for a value even lesser than the market rate in 2021 – Rs 18.5 crores. 

When the decision to acquire the land was made, the temple trust insisted that there was a sale deed for the previous 2019 deal as well, so the title of the land was clearly with Ansari before they purchased the land from him.

It is because of this and the temple trust’s need to be transparent, that both transactions, 2019 one between Kusum and Ansari and 2021 one between Ansari and Temple Trust, were executed and registered on the same day in a short span of time.

All the documents are available on UP Government Website online which can be verified.

The temple trust could not have purchased the land directly from Kusum at a cheaper rate because Kusum had, in 2019, got Rs 50 lacs as advance and was therefore obligated to sell her land to Ansari for Rs 2 crores. Any other deviation would have resulted in a legal misadventure and another legal dispute for 5 centuries. 

The rise in price is explained by the SC Ayodhya judgement where realty prices shot up in Ayodhya, as evidenced by the Forbes report.

The additional land is being acquired by the temple trust, over and beyond the 67 acres, because the temple trust wants to build allied facilities for the pilgrims and also wants to ensure that there is space to build the Ram Temple in accordance with Vastu norms.

It is, therefore, evident that no “scam”, as alleged by AAP and SP truly exists. The malicious intent to rake up a controversy where none exists clearly points to the fact that several political parties in India are merely trying to create roadblocks in the construction of the Ram Mandir, that Hindus have waited for over 5

Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, in March 2021, through its General Secretary Champat Rai executed an Agreement to buy an additional piece of land for the purposes of additional construction to facilitate pilgrims who would be travelling to the Ram Temple.

General Secretary Mr. Rai has been on record stating that the land surrounding the temple land was being acquired for several reasons, including Vaastu considerations, building facilities for pilgrims etc.

Lets have the facts around this – the 1.208 Ha land was decided to be purchased by the Trust at Rs 18.5 Cr. from one Sultan Ansari and one Ravi Mohan Tiwari. Ansari and the others had in turn bought the same land at just Rs 2 crore from one Kusum Pathak.

The specific land in question has been embarked on for acquisition by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra near the Ayodhya railway station to build a facility for the pilgrims who would be visiting the temple after it is constructed.

Sanjay Singh, of the Aam Aadmi Party had used the sale deed of the earlier transaction between Ansari and Kusum and the Agreement to Sell between Ansari and the Trust to allege a “scam” in the procurement of this land by the temple trust. Aam Aadmi Party’s leader Sanjay Singh alleged that Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra through its General Secretary Champat Rai bought a piece of land at higher price. While, Samajwadi Party has also made similar allegations against it.

He claimed that the land value was estimated at Rs.2 crore during the registry, but the Trust made an additional payment of Rs.18.5 crore to the seller just five minutes later. While the transactions were made in the name of Champat Rai, General Secretary, trust member Anil Mishra and Rishikesh Upadhyay, Mayor were witnesses to the registry. He also demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Department (ED) in the matter.

However, the factsheet does not prove what Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party is claiming here.  The Garhwa Post having the possession of fact sheet/documents that can explain the truth versus hype being created in public domain. As Reported by Opindia.

AAP has claimed that Ansari and others bought the land from Kusum on 18 March 2021 and sold it to the Ram Mandir Trust just after 15 minutes. How can the price of the land rise exponentially in just 15 minutes?

Let’s strict to the fact that both the documents put up by AAP, the sale deed of the land from Kusum to Ansari and the Agreement to Sell between Ansari to the temple trust were executed on the same day. According to Aam Aadmi Party, since both the documents were executed on the same day, in a span of 15 minutes, the entire transaction happened on the same day itself, therefore, the price increase from Rs 2 crores to Rs 18.5 crores points towards a scam.

As per the registered agreement, it states that Ansari was allowed 3-year time period to pay the rest of the amount (Rs 1.5 crores) to Kusum for the purchase of the land. The Rs 1.5 crore meant to be paid by September 2022. Since an advance was paid and the agreement was registered, Kusum could not back out of the deal simply because the land prices rose after the 9th November 2019 after the Ayodhya verdict by the Supreme Court. Therefore, she was obligated to sell her land to Ansari at Rs 2 crores itself.

It is important to mention here that Kusum and Ansari had drawn up, executed and registered an “Agreement to Sell” in 2019, not a “Sale Deed”. Kusum had received an advance of Rs 50 lacs for the land and the rest of the Rs 1.5 crores was set to be paid to her by Ansari over a span of 3 years. These details were mentioned in the Agreement to Sell.

At that point of time, Kusum and Ansari executed an “Agreement to Sell”, which essentially means in this case that an agreement was drawn up about the price of the land, the advance given, the remaining amount to be paid and a deadline, by which the payment was to be clear. The title transfer of the land had not happened, and for that, a “sale deed’ would need to be executed (which had not happened after 2019).

Therefore, in 2021, when the temple trust was buying the land from Ansari, the temple trust insisted that a “Sale Deed” is drawn up and registered, where the title itself was transferred from Kusum to Ansari, so the title is not disputed later. This ‘Agreement to Sell’ was consummated when a Sale Deed was executed between the two on 18.03.2021. Ansari’s title in the land was perfected on this date though the transaction was conceptualised and framed prior to Ayodhya Verdict in 2019 in terms of the Agreement to Sell. The price was at the value given in the 2019 Agreement to Sell.

It is an established fact that the land prices surrounding Ram Janmabhoomi and even in the rest of Ayodhya increased exponentially after the Supreme Court verdict. In December 2019 itself, Forbes had published an article detailing the realty price rise in Ayodhya.

In the article, Forbes quotes a property dealer saying that “The rates have increased up to six folds after the Supreme Court passed its verdict”. He claims that after the illegal structure was demolished, many Hindu and Muslim families had sold their property and moved out of Ayodhya, however, now the price of properties have increased exponentially.

In 2019 itself, the property dealer had said, “In a 4-km radius from the proposed Ram temple site, rates have tripled, from Rs 400 per square foot to Rs 1,200 per square foot”. If within a month of the verdict the property rates increased that much, 2 years on when the construction of the temple is well on its way, one can safely conclude that an increase in land price from Rs 2 crores to Rs 18.5 crores is not unfathomable.

The temple trust could have bought the land directly from Kusum if the original sale agreement could have been rescinded. However, since Kusum was already given Rs 50 lacs as advance by Ansari, there was no way that Kusum could have not honoured her agreement, without being liable for huge compensation payable to Ansari and making the property a subject of a long drawn legal battle.

She would have to compensate Ansari as per the current market rate which would have eroded her profits anyway. The temple trust could not have bought the land from Kusum directly since Kusum was legally bound to sell the land to Ansari at Rs 2 crores (price agreed upon in 2019, before the Ayodhya verdict) and this would have involved a complicated and long-drawn legal battle.

It is also hilarious that the journalists and Aam Aadmi Party who talk of ethics and propriety wanted Kusum to break a valid and legitimate contractual arrangement to earn more unethical profit. Below given facts that need to be taken into consideration as far as this case is concerned.

The original ‘Agreement to Sell’ was done between Kusum and Ansari in September 2019, for Rs 2 crores at the then-prevailing market rates. (There was no ‘sale deed’ and therefore, no title transfer in the name of Ansari).

At that time, there was no sale deed drawn up and therefore, the title was not clear with Ansari. By 2021, the price of the land increased exponentially due to the Ayodhya verdict and Bhumi Poojan of Ram Mandir.

The temple trust then decided to acquire that land from Ansari in 2021 for a value even lesser than the market rate in 2021 – Rs 18.5 crores. 

When the decision to acquire the land was made, the temple trust insisted that there was a sale deed for the previous 2019 deal as well, so the title of the land was clearly with Ansari before they purchased the land from him.

It is because of this and the temple trust’s need to be transparent, that both transactions, 2019 one between Kusum and Ansari and 2021 one between Ansari and Temple Trust, were executed and registered on the same day in a short span of time.

All the documents are available on UP Government Website online which can be verified.

The temple trust could not have purchased the land directly from Kusum at a cheaper rate because Kusum had, in 2019, got Rs 50 lacs as advance and was therefore obligated to sell her land to Ansari for Rs 2 crores. Any other deviation would have resulted in a legal misadventure and another legal dispute for 5 centuries. 

The rise in price is explained by the SC Ayodhya judgement where realty prices shot up in Ayodhya, as evidenced by the Forbes report.

The additional land is being acquired by the temple trust, over and beyond the 67 acres, because the temple trust wants to build allied facilities for the pilgrims and also wants to ensure that there is space to build the Ram Temple in accordance with Vastu norms.

It is, therefore, evident that no “scam”, as alleged by AAP and SP truly exists. The malicious intent to rake up a controversy where none exists clearly points to the fact that several political parties in India are merely trying to create roadblocks in the construction of the Ram Mandir, that Hindus have waited for many centuries.