Maha: Court orders MNS functionary to pull down party office set up illegally on temple trust land

A court in Thane has ordered a functionary of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to pull down within a month his party's public relations office set up "illegally" on a land owned by a temple trust at Ganeshpuri in the district. Bhiwandi civil court judge K G Choudhari had passed the order recently, but its copy was made available on Sunday.

The court asked the office-bearer of the MNS, Sunil Pratap Devre, to remove the encroachment and not to carry out any construction activity there after that.

Shree Bhimeshwar Sadguru Nityanand Sanstha, which manages the Nityanand Samadhi temple and other property of the trust, had filed a petition in the court against Devre, alleging that he had constructed the MNS's party office on the plot belonging to the trust.


In the complaint, the trust said that the plot was reserved for parking of vehicles of devotees, who visit the temple. The plot was vacant and the respondent, who is the divisional president of the MNS at Ganeshpuri, set up the 'jansampark' (public relations) office of the party there. The trust had sought court's direction for removal of the structure.

After hearing both the sides, the court ordered Devre to pull down the structure and free the land of encroachment.