Dwarka Demolition: Gujarat High Court Dismisses Pleas Seeking Protection Of Alleged Religious Structures From Coercive Action

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday (February 4) dismissed a batch of petitions seeking protection from demolition of certain alleged religious structures at Beyt Dwarka.The petitions challenged the notices by Okha Nagarpalika directing removal of "unauthorised construction/encroachment within three days", failing which, demolition of the same had been been indicated.Justice Mauna M Bhatt while dictating the order said, "I have considered everything...regarding the user of land...all the decisions relied upon by all parties...the present petitions do not call for any consideration. All writ petitions are therefore dismissed". The court also rejected the petitioners' plea for continuation of interim relief granted last month, for a further period of 15 days.The court in its order considered the question whether merely by usage of lands in question for a particular purpose, when admittedly the lands are not owned by the Petitioner, can the land be considered to be Waqf property of the Petitioner Trust. The court noted that while the petitioner Trust is registered in Public Trust Register (PTR), however the concerned Survey numbers of the lands in question are not reflected in the PTR. It also noted that as per the mutation entries "lands in question are shown as Government Land or Gauchar Land". "From mutation entry no.219 in village form no.6, it is evident that collector gave these lands to Gram Panchayat and in turn Gram Panchayat appears to have demarcated these lands for use as Qabrastan. The said mutation entry no 219 dated 11.04.1967 was never challenged and is final till date, therefore, the submission that the properties in question are part of the Petitioner Waqf is not accepted," the order states. With respect to the usage of the property as a Waqf, the court said, "In this case nothing is brought on record which would indicate that the lands in question have been designated as 'Waqf Property'. No list published by the State Government as contemplated under Section 4 of Waqf Act has been produced which could substantiate case of the Petitioners that the lands are Waqf Property. Therefore also, no case is made out that the lands in question being Waqf by registration or Waqf by usage, as defined in Section 3 (r) of the Waqf Act". With respect to another land in question, the court noted that Survey refers to the land as Gauchar Land in the Revenue Records and admittedly no construction is permissible on Gauchar Land. With respect to a land which had a Dargah on it, the court noted the State's submission that no demolition will be done of that Dargah.BackgroundThe petitioner–Bhet Bhadela Muslim Jamat had argued that it was registered under Bombay Public Trusts Act vide, once the Waqf Act, 1995 came into force, the petitioner Trust was deemed to be registered under Section 43 of Waqf Act, 1995 and, therefore, the property in question (Qabrastan) is property which is "under the control and supervision of Waqf". With respect to one of the land in question, the petitioner said that it had a bearing Survey number and was used as Qabrastan for burial of Muslims of Village Bet prior to independence. It further said that the Collector, Jamnagar in 1967 had placed this land along with other lands in the administration of Panchayat. A mutation Entry was recorded in village Form No.6 however, the name of Qabrastan is still existing in the revenue records. It was argued that from the documents on record, the lands in question are shown as Qabrastan or Dargah land used for burial of people of Muslim religion, hence notices for encroachment or unauthorized construction are contrary to the records. On the issue of unauthorized construction on Qabrastan or encroachment on Gauchar Land the petitioner said what was constructed are certain structures on Graveyard for religious observance, and the authority erred in treating it as un-authorized construction. Meanwhile the petitioner had relied on the decision of the Apex Court in the Re: Directions in the matter of demolition of structures (2024) and contended that the procedure prescribed has not been followed as the state did not conduct an inquiry or provide an opportunity for a hearing before issuing the notices. The Petitioner also argued that the demolition drive targeted religious structures violating the principles of natural justice.Meanwhile the State had argued that the mutation entries and PTR clearly indicates that the subjected land belongs to government as the concerned survey numbers are not recorded in the revenue records as a part of trust property which confirm the petitioners have no ownership. Referring to the Government Resolution the State contended that the Qabarastan land remains government property and cannot be transferred to any trust or waqf and the land is demarcated only for burials and no other construction is allowed. The counsel said that demolition drive was carried out in a phased manner adding that houses of pujaris of temple...

Dwarka Demolition: Gujarat High Court Dismisses Pleas Seeking Protection Of Alleged Religious Structures From Coercive Action

Lovina B Thakkar

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