HC declines urgent listing of plea against ‘ban’ on namaz at Qutub mosque

On June 3, too, the plea was mentioned for an urgent listing but it was declined by the bench of acting chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Sachin Datta.

The Delhi high court on Monday yet again declined to urgently list a plea by the managing committee of the Delhi Waqf Board against a purported “ban” on offering namaz at the mosque located at the entrance of the Qutub Minar complex in south Delhi’s Mehrauli.

Members of right-wing organisations recently recited Hanuman Chalisa outside the Qutub Minar demanding that the monument be renamed as ‘Vishnu Stambh’. (HT PHOTO.)

The plea was mentioned for urgent hearing before a vacation bench of justices Manoj Kumar Ohri and Poonam A Bamba, but the court said there was no urgency in the matter.

On June 3 also, the plea was mentioned for an urgent listing but it was declined by the bench of acting chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Sachin Datta.

The plea was mentioned by advocate M Sufian Siddiqui, on behalf of the managing committee of the Delhi Waqf Board about the Mughal Mosque “situated within the Qutub Complex” but outside the ”Qutub Enclosure”.

The counsel said it is not the contentious ‘Quwwat Ul Islam Mosque’ and is a duly gazette notified waqf property that has a board appointed imam and moazin.

The lawyer submitted before the court that namaz was regularly offered at the mosque and has never been closed for worship. However, the officials of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in an “absolutely unlawful, arbitrary and precipitous manner” completely stopped the namaz on May 13, 2022, without serving any notice or order, he said.

Siddiqui submitted that the fundamental rights of the worshippers stand violated on a continuous basis and to ensure that the primacy of rule of law is preserved and upheld, this matter may be listed for urgent hearing.