The government has intervened in the dispute over the management of Gaushala Dharmashala between Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) and the Marwadi Sewa Samiti.

In a letter on Thursday, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has asked the PADT to halt the process of claiming the Dharmashala (charity lodge for pilgrims) property, northwest of Gaushala crossroads. Badri Prasad Pandey, the culture minister and an ex-officio chairperson of the PADT, has also called a meeting of the PADT Council for Sunday to resolve the matter.

“Suspend all actions to implement the October 6 decision of the council [to take possession of the Dharmashala] until its [the council’s] next meeting,” reads the letter, adding that the move has led to insecurity in the Pashupati area.

On October 6, a council’s meeting chaired by Pandey had decided to hand over the Dharmashala to the Kathmandu Metropolitan City. However, the minister has backtracked on the decision within 10 days following strong opposition from the Marwadi community, a prominent business group in Nepal.

“We were working to implement the council’s decision. Now we have been asked to backtrack,” an official at the PADT told the Post. “Let's see how things unfold.”

On May 23, 2003, the PADT and the Samiti had forged an agreement allowing the latter to manage the Dharmashala, paying an annual rent of Rs51,000. For the past few years, the trust has been requesting the Samiti to agree to pay more in rent.

Following the Samiti’s reluctance to increase the payment, the council, on August 2 last year, terminated the two-decade-old agreement.

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

Four days later, the council’s meeting on October 6 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.

Since then, the PADT and the metropolis have been trying to vacate 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 to help claim the land and property. Similarly, the trust also held a press conference where it claimed the Samiti was in fact eying the land that belongs to the Pashupati temple.

Officials also claimed that the Samiti was illegally obstructing the trust’s attempt to manage the Dharamshala, which is the trust’s property.

The trust has also said the property will be used purely for religious purposes. Currently, the Samiti has been running hotels, lodges and restaurants, among other things, at the Dharmashala.

However, the Samiti says 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. The Samiti asserts that it has tenancy rights to the Dharmashala property.

Issuing an audio-visual statement on Sunday, it said the Gaushala Dharmashala has been under its possession for decades, long before it had reached an agreement with the Pashupati Area Development Trust in 2003. “The termination of the agreement doesn’t end the Marwadi Sewa Samiti’s possession of the property," it says.

Those with knowledge of the Pashunath temple’s property support Samiti’s claim, saying the Marwadi community has managed the land and property for decades, long before the trust existed.

Narottam Baidya, former member secretary of the trust and a Nepali Congress leader, had 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. It was a reward for their service to the victims of the 1934 Great Earthquake.

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,” Baidya had told the Post on Tuesday.

Officials from the trust, however, dispute the claim that the Samiti has tenancy rights to the land. They say Juddha Saumsher Rana gave the land for use as a cow shed, not for running commercial outlets. The Samiti has no permission to erect any infrastructure in the land, says a statement from the PADT issued on Tuesday.

The Samiti came into existence only in 2001 after being registered at the District Administration Office, Kathmandu, it claims.

As per PADT officials, the Samiti is earning more than Rs6.1 million annually from the property, but paying peanuts to the trust. They also said that a seven-point agreement signed between the trust and the metropolis stipulates that the property should be used for non-commercial purposes, contrary to what the Samiti is currently doing.

The PADT has cited additional evidence to support its claim to the property. In October 2006, after studying the matter, the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives had recommended that the Trust take over the operation of the Dharmashala.

The Auditor General’s Office made similar suggestions that same year. It has been pointed out that Samiti was refusing to revise its payment in violation of the provisions in the agreement with the trust.

Now the council’s meeting on Sunday will decide how the ownership row moves ahead. “How can the council backtrack from the October 9 decision? How can they justify it?" questioned the earlier-quoted PADT official.