- (1.) This large number of cases raises the issue of the occupation of certain areas in the vicinity of the confluence of two rivers, the Ganga and the Yamuna. The occasion to file the writ petitions arose when as a prelude to the preparations for the approaching Ardh Kumbh, scheduled from the first bathing day coinciding with Makar Sankranti in January, precisely, 14 January, 1995, the local administration along with the State of Uttar Pradesh and the Central Government embarked on a drive to clean the area. The reference to the phrase 'local administrations' needs to be specified as more than one local administration, apparently, is involved in the area which lies between the two rivers. Whether the Kumbh or the Ardh Kumbh or the fair (Mela) in the season of Magh, the area is identified within the radius of an are which will be chalked out with the Fort of Akbar as the centre of the circle. These writ petitions relate to occupation of the land between the confluence of the two rivers, the Ganga and the Yamuna. The Ganga as it flows in from the north and the river Yamuna as it flows in from the west, both join at Sangam. At the corner is situated the man made citadel, the Fort of Akbar. The history of administration of this local area, more or less, coincides with the history of the establishment of the British Cantonment at Allahabad. The area is part of the first Cantonment at Allahabad. In fact, the first occupation of British India begins with the occupation of the Fort. Thereafter, modern Allahabad whether of the Cantonment or of the Civil lines witnesses its planning and spread. The gazetteer District Gazetteers of the United Provinces, Vol XXIII. Allahabad, H. R. Nevild. 1910, records it, and it is therefor any one to see that the new city expanded at the close of 18th century. The officers of the British administration or of the army who had established the first cantonment are burled in a cemetery west of the fort and the locality today is known as Kydganj cemetery. The catalogue, Le., graves which were declared as protected monuments is an official publication. List of Christian Tombs & Monuments, of Archaeological or Historical interest and their inscriptions in the North-western Provinces & Oudh, compiled and annotated by Rev. A. Fuhrer, Allahabad, 1896.
(2.) The control effectively and undoubtedly of the area around the Fort had been of the military. The administration draws its sanction from the Cantonments Act, 1924 and the rules framed under it. The open area within the vicinity of the Fort but along the Fort and the Ganges is the West Bank of this river. It is submerged during the floods. It is distinctly demarcated by an embankment running from the Fort, in a south:north direction to an old quarter of the city, known as Daraganj, also a suburban railway station of the same name, upto the proximity of another suburban station named as Prayag. This is the massive Bundh which was constructed by Akbar the Great. Thus, below the Bundh on the east of It lie the sands and the banks of the Ganga. Towards the west of It open ground and beyond that the city of Allahabad : the military calls this the parade ground. This parade ground is upto the Minto Park, recorded as Survey No. 36. It was in this park that in 1858 that the assumption of the Government of India by the sovereign of Great Britain was announced by Lord Canning at a darbar at Allahabad in a proclamation issued on 1 November, 1958 in the name of the Queen. This was known as the Queen's Proclamation. The control of Indian Government was finally assumed by the Crown from the East India Company. It was in pursuance of this proclamation that Queen Victoria received the title of Empress and the subsequent Kings, as Emperor. The administration came under the Governors General and Viceroy.
(3.) The matters before the Court concern two distinct areas.;