Army says its drills are ‘greatly limited’ due to ‘illegal’ encroachments in Ayodhya

Over the past few months, sundry headlines have indicated that the Indian army is currently battling it out with the Uttar Pradesh state government in court.

At the heart of the conflict is land officially earmarked as a “notified” buffer zone for army field practice. Controversially, part of the land was bought by an Adani Group subsidiary and representatives connected to Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. 

Now, as hearings unfold before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, Newslaundry learned that the army told the court that its activities have been “greatly limited” by “illegal” encroachments and “unauthorised” plotting.

During a hearing on September 30, Colonel Nawal Joshi, who argued for the army, said the Manjha Field Firing Range had earlier been used to fire “area weapons” including bombs, missiles, mortars and rocket launchers. 

As per the court order, Joshi said the “use of area weapons has been greatly limited” and urgently asked for the “dismantling of illegal structures”. 

While the next hearing is now scheduled for December, these details indicate growing frustration, with the army alleging the Uttar Pradesh authorities turned a “deaf ear” to its complaints. 

Adani land and denotification

The story began in November, when 1.4 hectares of land in Ayodhya was purchased by a subsidiary of the Adani Group and associates of Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Manjha Jamthara. As reported by The Print, this was just two months before the consecration of the Ram Temple which is six km away.

The purchase was curious because the land is part of 14 villages notified as buffer zones at Ayodhya Cantonment, near the Saryu river. 

In January 2021, the villages spread over 13,391 acres were notified – meaning that no civilian structures could come up in the area – for the first time by the state government under section 9(2) of the Manoeuvres Field Firing and Artillery Practice Act of 1938. The notification spanned a period of five years ending 2025. This was done to keep “common citizens safe from any untoward incidents during firing”, according to an affidavit filed by the union defence ministry on September 13  by central government counsel Varun Pandey. 

The firing range is strategically important not for the army alone but also paramilitary forces – Sashastra Seema Bal, Border Security Force, and Central Reserve Police Force – and the police too.

Yet the sale of 1.4 hectares of land went through in November 2023. 

So, in December, the army sent a letter to district magistrate Nitish Kumar and the Uttar Pradesh police asking that action be taken against “unauthorised plotting” – meaning marking and measuring a piece of land for a specified purpose. 

But on May 30 this year, the state government quietly denotified Manjha Jamthara.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the alleged encroachment, the high court has been hearing the case since April this year. Praveen Kumar Dubey, a lawyer in Ayodhya, became an intervener in the case in July. 

Complaints ‘unheeded’ ?

During the latest hearing on September 30, the army alleged the “illegal” structures include hotels, schools, a polytechnic college, and a National Highway Authority of India road. It accused the Ayodhya district administration and development authority and the UP government of ignoring complaints in this regard. 

In the same hearing, Zuhair Bin Sageer, a special secretary with the UP government, said the denotification of Manjha Jamthara had been moved by Nitish Kumar, the district magistrate of Ayodhya. He also said “no such proposal for denotification for any of the remaining 13 villages had been received from the district magistrate”.

The bench of Justices Om Prakash Shukla and Rajan Roy then directed the Ayodhya Development Authority to allow “maps” for new construction only after obtaining no-objection certificates from the army. It is not clear if the army’s permission is required for all 14 villages, or for 13 villages excluding Manjha Jamthara. If the former is the case, the three – the Adani subsidiary and associates of Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – would have to approach the army for an NOC.  

The court also left it to the “concerned officials” to look into structures sanctioned without the Ayodhya Development Authority’s approval.

It should be noted that in April, the state government told the high court there had been no construction in the 14 villages since their notification in 2021. The government also said civilian structures could not be built on land notified under the 1938 Act. 

Yet Colonel Joshi told the court on September 30 that despite the 2021 notification of the villages, “certain constructions took place within the notified area and the complaints in this regard, whether be it by the Indian Army or others, went unheeded by the District Authorities”. 

The court order said Colonel Joshi “very fairly submitted that these structures which have come up have hindered the firing manoeuvres of the army”. 

This isn’t the first time the army has flagged concerns on illegal structures in Ayodhya. In February last year, it wrote a letter to district magistrate Nitish Kumar asking for their removal. 

According to an RTI filed by lawyer Dubey last August, the power to remove encroachments rests with the district administration. Dubey had also filed a petition in the high court on November 21 seeking the removal of encroachments from notified defence land. Three days later, the Lucknow bench asked the Ayodhya Development Authority not to “sanction plans without due verification of the title land”. The bench also asked the administration to help the army in removing encroachments. 

Months later, in February, the district magistrate formed a committee to identify and remove encroachments from defence land. But Newslaundry learned that little progress has been made. 

US presidential elections are around the corner, and we are going to cut through all the noise and disinformation with quality journalism from the ground. Sreenivasan Jain and team will be in American to tell the story of one of the most important polls of the year. Click here to support us.