The Centre on Monday told the Delhi high court that Mughal Mosque in South Delhi's Mehrauli area is a ”protected monument” and sought time to state its stand on a plea against the stopping of offering namaaz by devotees there.
The Centre asked Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri to grant more time to seek instructions on the petition which pertains to the mosque which is situated within the 'Qutub Complex' but outside the 'Qutub Enclosure',
Advocate Kirtiman Singh, appearing for the Centre, said that a case concerning the mosque was also going on before a lower court in Saket.
The lawyer for Delhi Waqf Board, Wajeeh Shafiq, however, said that the proceedings before the Saket court concern a different mosque.
Advocate M Sufian Siddiqui, appearing for the managing committee of Delhi Waqf Board, urged the court to hear the case as early as possible, saying that the mosque has remained shut for prayers since May.
The court listed the case for further hearing on September 12 and granted further time to the respondents to place their stands on the petition.
On July 14, the court had given time to the Centre and Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to state their stand on the petition.
The petitioner had then told the court that the mosque in question is a duly gazette notified waqf property that has a duly appointed imam and muezzin, and not the contentious 'Quwattul Islam Mosque.'
A plea, pending before a Saket court, has prayed for the restoration of Hindu and Jain deities inside the Qutub Minar complex on the ground that 27 temples were partly demolished by Qutubdin Aibak, a general in the army of Mohamad Gauri, and Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque was raised inside the complex by reusing the material.
The petitioner's lawyer had submitted that namaaz was regularly performed at the mosque and has never been closed for worship; however, the officials of ASI in an ”absolutely unlawful, arbitrary and precipitous manner” completely stopped the namaaz on May 13, 2022, without serving any notice or order.
He had submitted that the fundamental rights of the worshippers stand violated on a continuous basis.
The plea has sought to restrain the authorities from "causing any obstruction or interference in the performance of namaaz at the mosque in question, that is, a waqf property notified as 'masjid adjacent to eastern gate of Qutab Minar, Mehrauli' in Delhi administration's gazette notification."
"Significantly, there is no disruption of public order while prayers are offered every day without breaking the law and order. The usage of the instant mosque for the purposes of worship is in no way causing any defacement or any adverse effects on the heritage of the nation," the plea has said.
It said, "Denial of opportunity to Muslims to offer namaaz in the instant mosque is a form of violence and violation of cultural liberty."
"Ergo, the respondent, ASI, in so far as the mosque in question is concerned, has got no authority in law to even regulate, what to say of stopping, the gathering of worshippers at the mosque in question. Therefore, the impugned action of the respondent ASI has no legal backing and is untenable in law. More so, as the said impugned action is ex-facie without any authority in law and illegal," the plea has stated.
