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HC junks pleas against demolition of graveyard, two shrines in Beyt Dwarka | Ahmedabad News


Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Tuesday dismissed three petitions filed by a religious trust against notices issued by the local authorities to demolish a graveyard and a couple of shrines on a plot in Beyt Dwarka in Devbhumi Dwarka district.
Justice Mauna Bhatt did not find merit in the petitions and dismissed them. The judge also lifted the stay order issued last month, which restrained the authorities from removing these structures along with other establishments. The authorities spared these structures during their demolition drive because of the interim order by the HC.
The petitions were filed by Beyt Bhadela Muslim Jamat, which is a registered trust under the Waqf Act. It challenged three different notices issued by the Okha municipality last month, asking the occupants to remove structures by terming them encroachments. This prompted the trust to approach the HC for the protection of a graveyard, which it claims to be in use since 1953, and two shrines. The trust claimed that they were Waqf properties.
However, the state govt claimed that the land parcels were gaucher (pasture) land and maintained that the constructions on it were unauthorized. It also emphasized the geographical importance of the area and asserted that “the region has become a hub for anti-national activities, particularly smuggling of narcotics for which FIRs have been lodged”.
After the hearing, the court questioned whether merely using lands for religious purposes would make it Waqf property of the trust. It then stated, “Nothing is brought on record which would indicate that the lands in question have been designated as ‘Waqf property’. No list published by the state govt as contemplated under Section 4 of the Waqf Act has been produced which could substantiate the case of the petitioners that the lands are Waqf property. Therefore also, no case is made out that the lands in question being Waqf by registration or Waqf by usage, as defined in Section 3 (r) of the Waqf Act.”





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