New Delhi: The Delhi High Court advised the Delhi Waqf Board on Monday to approach the court whenever the Government of India takes any action against its properties related to the Central Vista Redevelopment Project.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav observed that the project has received the Supreme Court’s approval and asked the board to withdraw its 2021 petition, which sought preservation and protection of six properties in the area.
The senior counsel representing the petitioner stated that the waqf board was not opposing the Central Vista project but was seeking assurance that it would not be dispossessed of its properties. The judge said, “Withdraw this petition. We do not want to complicate. As and when they take any action, you can come.”
The court allowed the board to withdraw the petition with the liberty to file a fresh plea if required.
The board had moved the high court in 2021 for the preservation and protection of six of its properties in the area where redevelopment work was ongoing: Masjid Zabta Ganj at Mansingh Road, Jama Masjid at Red Cross Road, Masjid Sunehri Bagh Road near Udyog Bhawan, Mazar Sunehri Bagh Road behind Motilal Nehru Marg, Masjid Krishi Bhawan inside the Krishi Bhawan compound, and Masjid Vice President at the official residence of the Vice President of India.
In December 2021, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the high court that “nothing is happening” to the Delhi Waqf Board properties in the vicinity of the project and said that being a “long plan,” the redevelopment had not yet reached the properties in question. The high court had then adjourned the hearing, expressing “full faith” in the solicitor general and turning down the petitioner’s lawyer’s request to record the statement.
In December last year, the waqf counsel claimed that during the pendency of the proceedings, the mazar near the Sunehri Bagh mosque was demolished. However, the Government of India’s counsel stated that the mazar was demolished by the New Delhi Municipal Council and that no action was being taken regarding the properties.
The Delhi Waqf Board’s petition claimed that the six properties in the redevelopment area “are more than an ordinary mosque and have a distinction attached to them,” asserting that neither the British government nor the Government of India had ever hindered religious practices at these properties, which were always preserved. The petition, filed through lawyer Wajeeh Shafiq, emphasized that these waqf properties are over 100 years old and have continuously been used for religious purposes, existing before the surrounding government buildings were constructed.
