Pashupati Trust takes stand over Gaushala Dharmashala

Kathmandu / Oct 16: The dispute over the management of Gaushala Dharmashala has taken a new height after the Pashupati Area Development Trust on Tuesday accused Marwadi Sewa Samiti of eying the land housing the pilgrims’ shelter, northwest of Gaushala crossroads.

Organising a press meeting, the trust said the Samiti has illegally been creating barriers to the management of the Dharamshala under the trust’s possession. “The Marwadi Sewa Samiti is challenging the court’s order by obstructing the area’s evacuation,” said Milan Kumar Thapa, member secretary of the trust, in the press meeting.

On May 23, 2003, the trust and the samiti sealed an agreement allowing the latter to manage the property, paying an annual rent of Rs51,000. For the past few years, the trust has been requesting the samiti to increase the very nominal rent.

Following samiti’s reluctance to pay more in rent, the trust, on August 2, 2023, terminated the two-decade-old agreement and decided to bring over 9.5 ropani (0.48 hectares) of land and infrastructure erected on it under its possession. It also decided to give the Kathmandu Metropolitan City the responsibility of managing the property.

Challenging the decision, the samiti moved the Kathmandu District Court. On October 2, the court scrapped the case, saying that the samiti had failed to substantiate its claim.

Following the court’s ruling, the trust and the metropolis have been trying to claim the property. However, people associated with the samiti, a philanthropic organisation of the Marwadi community, have been obstructing them.

They thwarted the metropolis’ attempt on Tuesday, which had made similar failed attempts on October 9. With repeated resistance from the samiti, the metropolis administration on Tuesday wrote to the District Administration Office, Kathmandu for support to claim the land and property. Similarly, the trust also held a press meet to clarify its position.

The trust has said the property will be used purely for religious purposes. Currently, it has been rented to run hotels, lodges and restaurants, among other things.

The samiti has said it is wrong on the part of the trust and the metropolis to forcibly vacate the property even before the court has issued its full text. It has claimed that it has tenancy rights to the trust’s land.

Those with knowledge of the property of Pashunath temple, back the samiti’s claim. They say the Marwadi community has been managing the land and property since decades, long before the trust existed.

Narottam Baidya, former member secretary of the trust and a Nepali Congress leader, said the land was given to the Marwadi community for use as a cow shed by then Prime Minister Juddha Sumsher Rana in 1937 AD. The cow shed would provide the milk needed for worship in the Pashupatinath Temple every day.“Later, during the land survey, Gausahala Dharmashala managed by Marwadi Sewa Samiti was named as mohi (tenant) of the land,” he said.

Baidya said the office bearers of the trust should have used their wisdom to handle the matter. The trust rather sensationalised the issue, he said. “Both the trusts and the samiti are service-oriented organisations. Instead of antagonising it, the trust could have taken the samiti along for the development of the entire Pashupati area,” he said.

Officials from the trust, however, don’t agree with the claim that the samiti has tenancy rights to the land. “We challenge the samiti to produce documents to establish its mohiyani rights,” said Thapa.

Balen Shah, Kathmandu’s mayor, has said the samiti has unlawfully taken control of 9 ropani, 9 ana, and 2 paisa of land for years under the name of the Gaushala Dharamshala, paying just a few thousand rupees.

“From this episode, it is obvious that the country is being run by committees like these. Such committees’ illegitimate relationships transcend rules and courts,” he wrote on Facebook last week.