High Court Asks Ahmedabad Municipal Corp To Decide Sunni Waqf Board's Plea Against Renaming Of 'Afzal Khan no Tekro' To 'Shivaji no Tekro'

It is the case of the petitioner that the Resolution was passed by considering the representations of persons who were admittedly 'encroachers' on their property and that the said Resolution was passed without the issuance of any notice, nor informing or giving an opportunity of hearing to the Waqf, nor consulting the Gujarat State Waqf Board, which was the statutory authority in this regard.

The petitioner furthermore stated that as soon as it was made aware of the Resolution, it made a representation to the Corporation on October 15, requesting them to not approve the Resolution, given that the property was under the ownership of the Waqf.

Most importantly, the petitioner argued that the Committee did not even acknowledge or refer to the area by its name – "Afzal Khan no Tekro" – and that it ostensibly referred to the area through names of its adjacent locations, all of which was nothing but a political event made to coincide with the upcoming elections and was violative of the fundamental, religious and legal rights of the Waqf.

The petitioner had specifically challenged the Resolution and the Agenda as grossly illegal, unconstitutional, arbitrary and against the settled principles and propositions of law, since any representation made by encroachers could not have been considered by the Committee as per the Town Planning Scheme. Moreover, not giving an opportunity to the Waqf was against the principles of natural justice, as argued by the petitioner.

After considering the arguments raised by the petitioner, the single bench of Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt directed the Corporation to decide the October 15 representation as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of one week from Wednesday.

Case Title: Ahmedabad Sunni Muslim Waqf Committee v. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Guj) 391

Coram: Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt

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