The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to respond to a plea by Delhi Waqf Board, seeking the preservation and protection of its heritage properties that are likely to be impacted by the ongoing Central Vista Redevelopment Project.
The Waqf Board sought the preservation and protection of six of its properties in the area within which the redevelopment work was ongoing.
The properties are Masjid Zabta Ganj at Mansingh Road, Jama Masjid at Red Cross Road, Masjid Sunehri Bagh Road Near Udyog Bhawan, Mazar Sunehri Bagh Road behind Moti Lal Nehru Marg, Masjid Krishi Bhawan inside Krishi Bhawan Compound and Masjid vice-president at the official residence of the Vice President of India.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central government, said he would take instructions on the Waqf Board's petition in a week's time. The court posted the hearing the matter for September 29.
Senior advocate Sanjoy Ghose, representing the Waqf Board, said that his client, in no manner, intended to impede the ongoing project but merely sought a “clarification that the government would honour the integrity of these places of worship”.
Mr. Ghose said one of the structures even housed the remains of Dr Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, the fifth President of India and the father of former High Court judge Badar Durez Ahmed.
The Waqf Board, in its plea, claimed that the six properties “are more than an ordinary mosque and have a distinction attached to them”.
“The British Crown transferred a few of these properties to the predecessors of the petitioner by way of registered agreements; these waqf properties were also spared when government buildings were constructed around them or in their immediate vicinity; a few of these waqf properties were also withdrawn from the acquisition and their title was allowed to revert to the petitioner,” it added.
