Plea In SC Challenges Telangana HC Order On Demolition Of Mosques Within State Secretariat Complex [Read Petition]

The Petitioner, Khaja Bilal Ahmed has filed the SLP seeking the grant of ad-interim ex-parte stay of operation of the July 15 order and for earmarking and preservation of the places where the Mosques were situated for construction of the new Mosques.

The Petitioner has averred that Government of Telangana had came to a decision to demolish the Secretariat Building Complex. The demolition was carried out on July 8 and as a result of which two old Mosques, Jamia Masjid and Masjid Hashim, which were situated in the secretariat complex, were also demolished.

On July 9, Mohd. Zakeer Hussain Javid being the member of the Telangana State Waqf Board represented the two Mosques in his individual capacity without any authorization or consent of the Waqf Board and approached the Telangana High Court seeking an ad-interim injunction from demolishing the mosques.

The Chief Minister of Telangana through a tweet on July 10 expressed his regret and pain over the demolition of the Mosques, and assured that a new and more spacious Mosque would be constructed with Government expenses and on July 15, the Telangana High Court disposed off the writ petition at admission stage itself without giving an opportunity to the Telangana State Waqf Board of being heard.

The State Government Pleader had submitted before the High Court that the Mosque, which was in existence had collapsed under the debris of one of the Secretariat Buildings and the proposal for rebuilding the same is being planned. Mohd. Zakeer Hussain Javid had expressed satisfaction to the same and therefore, following the consent of both the parties, the petition was disposed of.

The grievance of the present petitioner is that Mohd. Zakeer Hussain Javid had no right/capacity to give any such consent. Also, that being the petitioner in the petition Javid did not mention that he was a member of the Telengana State Waqf Board and that it had been a deliberate omission as he had made the Telengana State Waqf Board as Respondent No. 9 in the writ petition before High Court.

Ahmed has submitted that Javid had no locus standi whatsoever to express his satisfaction that a new Mosque will be constructed within the Secretariat Complex.

Ahmed has further averred that it is of outmost relevance and importance here that nowhere in the impugned order it has been stated that there were two Mosques - Jamia Masjid and Masjid Hashim situated within the premises of Telengana State Secretariat Hyderabad.

The Petitioner in the present SLP submits that though Javid had claimed himself to be the representative of the two Mosques , the Telengana State Waqf Board had not authorize him.

Moreover, the SLP further that as per A.P. High Court Rules 7A a PIL can be brought before a Division Bench. Therefore, the Single Judge had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the matter, and further the procedure adopted by the Single Judge is unknown to law as the impugned judgment was made on the basis of the consent of an individual, when the two Mosques were under the control and administration of the Telengana State Waqf Board.

The present petitioner contends that the writ petition was disposed off on mere statement of the State Government, neither the impugned order states the area over which the proposed new Mosque is to be built, nor the State Government has given any time limit for construction of the Mosque or with respect to its area demarcation. Till date no plan/ map has been brought into the public domain.

The plea has been drawn and filed by Ankur Prakash and is listed today for hearing.

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