Shimla, November 30: Shimla District Court has upheld the order of the Municipal Corporation Shimla Commissioner Court to demolish the illegal floors built in Sanjauli Mosque.
The court on Saturday rejected the petition of the Muslim side, which challenged the order to demolish three illegal floors of the mosque. This decision has come as a shock to the petitioner Muslim side. Everyone’s eyes were on the court’s decision.
Sanjauli Mosque has been in controversy for some time. There was an allegation of illegal construction of floors inside the mosque. Shimla Municipal Corporation considered its three floors illegal and issued an order to demolish these floors. It was alleged that these floors were constructed without any permission and legal process. On the order of the Municipal Corporation Commissioner Court, the mosque committee has started the work of demolishing the illegal construction of the mosque and till now the attic (the part below the roof) of the mosque has been removed.
The Muslim Welfare Society had filed a petition in the Shimla District Court against the decision of the Municipal Commissioner Court, in which they had challenged the order to demolish the illegal floors of the mosque.
Questions were raised in the petition about the legitimacy of Mohammad Latif, the president of the Sanjauli Mosque Committee. On this, the court had summoned the record of the mosque committee from the Waqf Board. In the last hearing, the Waqf Board clarified in its affidavit filed in the court that Mohammad Latif has been the head of the mosque committee since the year 2006.
Advocate Vishwa Bhushan of the petitioner Muslim Welfare Society said in a conversation with journalists that our appeal from the district court has been rejected and now the decision of the Municipal Commissioner Court will remain intact.
He said that our argument in the petition was that the mosque committee which the Municipal Corporation Court has authorized to demolish the illegal construction is not the authorized officer of the mosque committee under Section 18 of the Waqf Board Act. Apart from this, he could not appear in the mosque case in the Municipal Commissioner’s court.
On the other hand, Latif, the head of the mosque committee, said that one floor of the Sanjauli mosque has been demolished on the orders of the Municipal Corporation Commissioner. At present, the demolition work is stopped due to lack of labor. The Municipal Corporation Court has been informed that the demolition of the illegal construction of the mosque will not be able to start till March as the labor will go home in winter.
Sanjauli local people’s advocate Jagat Paul has welcomed the decision of the district court to dismiss the petition. He said that this decision is praiseworthy. The Muslim Welfare Society had filed an appeal in the district court on October 29 and it has been disposed of within a month.
He said that we were saying from the first day that the Muslim Welfare Society had no justification to appeal in this matter and neither is it the affected party. He said that the deadline for demolishing the three illegal floors of the Sanjauli mosque will be completed on December 14. So far one floor has been demolished.
The state High Court has ordered the Municipal Corporation Commissioner Court to settle the matter by December 20 and now the decision on the other two floors of the mosque is pending.
It is worth noting that on October 5, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Bhupendra Atri, while hearing the case regarding illegal construction in this disputed mosque of Sanjauli, declared three floors of the mosque illegal and ordered the mosque committee to demolish them. In compliance with these orders, the mosque committee has started the work of demolishing the illegal part and the roof of the mosque has been removed.
There was a ruckus over illegal construction in the mosque, Hindu organizations protested
The Sanjauli mosque dispute has been in constant discussion since last September. Regarding this matter, people of Hindu society gathered in Shimla and agitated to demolish the mosque. In the violent protest in Sanjauli on September 11, the protesters broke the barricades and came near the mosque site. The police had to lathicharge to drive them away. During this, many people including police personnel were injured.
This dispute came to light when some people beat up a local man named Vikram Singh in Malyana area. Vikram had lodged an FIR in Dhali police station regarding this assault. It is alleged that after carrying out the assault, the accused hid in the mosque. After this, Hindu organizations protested against Sanjauli Mosque and called for the demolition of the mosque, calling it illegal. This matter got more serious in no time.
