New Delhi The Delhi High Court on March 9 refused to grant any interim relief to the Delhi Waqf Board with regard to the allotment of property allegedly owned by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and sought the Centre’s stand on it. Petition related to the decision of the government to re-examine the de-listing of its 123 properties.
Justice Yashwant Verma observed that there is no ground to grant an adjournment and said the property was allotted to the ITBP at some point in 2017 and if the Delhi Waqf Board is successful in the present proceedings, the allotment may be cancelled.
“I am not inclined to grant a stay at present. This is not a place to stay. It is not as if the property has gone to private people. We can ask the union to hand it back,” the judge said.
The court has issued notice to the Centre, Delhi Development Authority and ITBP Force on the petition and directed them to file a reply.
The Delhi Waqf Board had moved the High Court in 2017 after the Center constituted a two-member committee to consider de-listing of waqf properties even after a report was submitted by a one-member committee on the same issue.
Central government counsel Kirtiman Singh opposed the grant of interim relief to the petitioner and said that no construction has taken place at the disputed site so far and the board can approach the court if there is any complaint in future.
He insisted that the Board should participate in the ongoing proceedings before the committee and the report of the one-member committee, which was dismissed as being inconclusive, cannot be shared with the petitioner.
Advocate Wajeeh Shafiq, appearing for the Waqf Board, urged the court to grant interim stay with regard to the allotment to ITBP and claimed that the petitioner came to know about the allotment even before the present petition was filed.
He claimed that the Center acts “in the name of national security” and “we first burnt our fingers” in relation to another property.
The counsel also asked the court to exempt the petitioner from appearing before the present committee but the court refused to pass orders on this aspect.
Justice Verma said he is not finally hearing the matter and asked the Center to file its reply.
In the petition, the Delhi Waqf Board has argued that while its properties have been de-listed in 2014 under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Act, 2013, there is no one to take back under the law. There is no provision. order of withdrawal from acquisition
The petition further states that the two-member committee is the second such panel appointed by the Center to re-examine the status of 123 properties after the constitution of the one-member committee and emphasized that in the meantime, the Center has transferred one done. In favor of ITBP
“The entire mala fide purpose of appointment of committee after committee is to create confusion with respect to the title of the petitioner in respect of these waqf properties…
“Taking advantage of this, the Union of India has transferred a portion of the waqf land included in the Khasra no. 484, Kadimi Kabistan, Village South Indrapat, Mathura Road – Waqf Property No. No. Eight out of the first list of un-notified waqf properties–to the ‘Indo-Tibetan Border Police’,” argued the petition filed through advocate Wajih Shafiq.
The petition claims that the properties in question are “registered and gazetted notified waqf properties for more than half a century”, have never been in the possession or control of the government, nor have their religious use been changed or prevented. has gone.
It has claimed that the properties are governed by the provisions of the Waqf Act, 1995 which prohibit their alienation.
The Delhi Waqf Board has challenged the transfer of its assets to the ITBP and sought a direction to the Center to take a fresh decision on the report of the one-member committee.
The next hearing of the case will be on April 28.