Demolition at madrasa: HC tells Centre not to take ‘precipitative’ action

The Delhi high court on Thursday asked the union government to not take any precipitative action against any of the 123 properties of the Delhi Waqf Board till Tuesday.

The Delhi high court on Thursday asked the union government to not take any precipitative action against any of the 123 properties of the Delhi Waqf Board till Tuesday after the latter claimed that the boundary wall of Babar Road mosque was demolished by the authorities on April 11 despite the pending litigation in the court.

A bulldozer demolishes portions of a madrasa in New Delhi’s Bengali Market area on Tuesday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

Justice Manoj Ohri, while hearing the Waqf Board’s plea against de-listing of the properties, orally asked the counsel for the Centre Kirtiman Singh to not take any coercive steps till Tuesday, while fixing it as the next date of hearing.

The court also asked the Union Government to file their response to the petition after the Waqf Board pointed that no reply has been given till date by the Centre despite several hearings in the matter.

In a fresh application following the demolition of the boundary wall, the Board told the court that after the last date of hearing, Delhi Development authority (DDA) has started to send its employees to visit the waqf properties, part and parcel of the 123 Waqf properties, along with the police, who are affixing and distributing the notices/letters at the waqf properties/ Mosques included in the aforesaid 123 Waqf Properties during the prayer times.

“The said notice/letters convey that the inspection of these 123 waqf properties is to be carried out by the respondents. Pertinently, because of the ongoing month of Ramzan, the footfall at every mosque and other religious places of Islam religion has increased manifold. The impugned mischievous action of the respondents is, therefore, receiving a wider audience and is causing stir and an atmosphere of anxiety amongst the worshippers,” the Waqf Board said in its application.

It further said that on April 11 (Tuesday), Executive Engineer from the office of L&DO namely Suresh Kumar, along with JCB Machine, heavy police force and paramilitary forces reached at Babar Road Mosque and caused demolition of the western boundary wall of the said Mosque and also of various rooms of the Madarsa being run in the mosque.

Appearing for the Waqf Board, its counsel Wajeeh Shafique told the court that no prior notice or information of this demolition was given either to the petitioner or to the Managing Committee of the mosque.

“The said mosque is ancient…..It is also pertinent to point out that to grant protection to this demolition, the police and paramilitary forces had arrived at around 6.30 AM on April 11, 2023, when everyone at the mosque and Madarsa were asleep. Soon thereafter the demolition had begun, affording no opportunity to the managing committee to remove even the electrical appliances, like ceiling fans etc. nor any opportunity was given to the Madarsa students to even remove their belongings,” the counsel said.

Central government standing counsel Kirtiman Singh told the court that they had the demolition was carried out as the said boundary was an encroachment. He further added that there was an order of the Supreme Court monitoring committee permitting such illegal occupation.

However, the counsel for the Waqf Board objected to this and said that there was no such order from the Supreme Court monitoring committee on the demolition of this mosque.

The court said that since it is monitoring the matter, the authorities could have come to the court informing them about such an action.

Challenging the union government’s decision of February 8, 2023 of de-listing the properties, the Waqf Board has cob contended that all these properties are either dargahs, mosques or graveyards, which have always remained in its possession and cannot be taken away now on the basis of a report of a two-member committee.

The Land and Development Office (L&DO) of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) recently decided to take over 123 properties of the Delhi Waqf Board, including mosques, dargah and graveyards, based on the report of a two-member committee.

The deputy L&DO, in a letter to Board chairman Amanatullah Khan, had on February 8 informed him about the decision to absolve the Delhi Waqf Board from all matters related to the 123 properties based on the two-member committee’s report.