The Delhi High Court on Friday granted time to the Centre, city government and the police to respond to a plea seeking to reopen the Nizamuddin Markaz (centre), which has been locked since March 31 last year after several people who attended a religious congregation there contracted COVID-19.
The HC asked the authorities to submit their respective stand on the plea by Delhi Waqf Board within 10 days and posted the case for further hearing on March 24.
The court had already issued notices to the authorities on the plea in February, but Delhi government standing counsel (criminal) Rahul Mehra, representing the State and police, sought time to submit the status report. The Centre’s counsel also sought some more time to submit its response.
The Board, represented by senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, contended that even after the Unlock-1 guidelines permitted religious places outside containment zones to be opened, the centre — comprising Masjid Bangley Wali, Madarsa Kashif-ul-uloom and its attached hostel — continues to be locked.
‘Discontent growing’
The Board said it had on February 16 this year given a representation to the authorities to reassess the necessity of keeping the premises locked and asked for the locks to be removed from the Waqf premises. It said no action has been taken so far on the representation.
It further contended that even if the premises were part of any criminal investigation or trial, keeping it “under lock as an out-of-bounds area” was a “primitive method” of conducting an inquiry.
The Board said that “putting the property under lock for an indefinite period is not only interfering with the statutory rights of the Waqf Board, causing difficulty at various levels to the people who are directly interested in the waqf property, but discontent is also growing among members of the Muslim community at large”.
