The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by the Delhi Waqf Board, which claimed ownership of a property in Delhi’s Shahdara area, asserting it was a 'waqf property'. The court noted that a Gurudwara had been functioning on the site for a long time and declined to interfere with the existing arrangement.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma made its position clear during the hearing, remarking, “There is a Gurudwara, let it be. Even if there is any claim, you should relinquish that claim saying a Gurudwara is already there.”
The court was hearing the Waqf Board’s challenge to a September 2010 judgment by the Delhi High Court, which had dismissed its suit seeking possession of the disputed property. In its suit, the board had argued that the land in question was a waqf property and had been used for religious purposes “since time immemorial.”
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During the proceedings, the counsel for the Delhi Waqf Board referred to findings by the trial court and argued that a mosque had historically existed on the property. He also cited testimony from a defendant’s witness, who admitted that a mosque had been present and that “some kind of a Gurudwara” was later constructed there, though it was allegedly not formally registered.
The Supreme Court, however, was unconvinced. “Not some kind of a Gurudwara—it is a fully functional Gurudwara,” the bench responded.
In its ruling, the court dismissed the Waqf Board’s appeal and referred to the High Court’s earlier observation that a witness had acknowledged the Gurudwara had been functioning on the property since 1947. With this verdict, the apex court effectively upheld the status quo and denied the Waqf Board’s claim, signaling finality in a dispute that had lingered for over a decade.
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