Delhi HC: Waqf Board aiming to file separate petition against Center’s decision on 123 properties – Delhi High Court refuses to grant provisional relief to Delhi Waqf Board

code photo
Photo: Archive photo

Expansion

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Waqf Board of Delhi to file a separate petition against the Center’s decision to absolve the board from all cases related to 123 properties. Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri refused to issue an urgent order on the Delhi Waqf Board’s application in a pending petition filed last year against the Centre’s move to demolish 123 properties.

The court asked the board to file a separate original petition challenging the letter and listed the request for a hearing on August 4, along with the pending petition. The Waqf Board of Delhi has filed the application to challenge the February 8 letter from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Speaking at the hearing, senior lawyer Rahul Mehra, acting for the Delhi Waqf Board, said that the center has no source of power to free the board from the affected properties.

Mehra said that if you don’t have the power, you can’t do anything under the legal arrangement. He said the properties were clearly demarcated through four surveys conducted in 1970, 1974, 1976 and 1984 and later accepted as Waqf properties by the President of India. On the other hand, ASG Chetan Sharma, appearing before the central government, said that the prayer contained in the application submitted by the council is completely outside the scope of the pending petition.