Supreme Court dismisses Waqf Board claim over Gurdwara in Delhi

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed Delhi Waqf Board’s claim over a premises being used as Gurdwara [Delhi Wakf Board v Hira Singh]..The bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma dismissed the appeal moved by the Waqf Board against Delhi High Court’s decision to reject its plea in 2010Justice Sharma said the Board on its own should have given up the claim. However, Senior Advocate Sanjoy Ghose, appearing for the Board, said the lower courts had held that a mosque was there but “now some kind of gurdwara is there”.“Not some kind of. A proper functioning gurudwara. Once there is a Gurudwara let it be. A religious structure is already functioning there. You should yourself relinquish that claim you see,” the Court said while dismissing the appeal. .As per the Waqf Board, the mosque in question in Shahdara was “Masjid Takia Babbar Shah”. It claimed that the mosque had existed since time immemorial and was dedicated for religious purposes.However, the defendant had argued that property is not a wakf property as the owner of the property Mohd Ahsaan had sold it to him in 1953. The Delhi High Court had ruled in favour of the defendant.“Defendant was admittedly in occupation of this property since 1947-48. It is also true that the defendant was not able to adduce any document of title to evidence the purchase of this property, yet this does not in any manner benefit the plaintiff who has to establish his own case and prove it to enable him to obtain a decree of possession,” the High Court had said.