Gujarat HC orders status quo on dargah facing demolition

The petitioner argued that the dargah has been in revenue records for long and has a valid electric connection provided by Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Limited.

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday ordered to maintain a status quo on the demolition of a supposedly 100-year-old dargah (shrine) in Aravalli district. The Muslim religious place, which was damaged during 2002 post-Godhra riots and restored in 2012, has been termed as illegally constructed on public land by the local authority.

Justice Sangeeta Vishen, while issuing notice to the authorities, ordered to "maintain status-quo qua the subject dargah." Petitioner Abbasbhai Sirajhusen Mansuri has filed the petition against the issuance of notice of demolition of the Chand Pir Saiyed Dargah and the Bala Pir Dargah situated near a lake in Bhensavada village in Aravalli district

Mansuri is one of the trustees of the dargah. He has argued that this dargah is Waqf property and is protected under Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. He has claimed that Bhensavada Group Gram Panchayat has issued notice for removal of alleged illegal encroachment of the dargah, which has existed for more than 100 years.

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He has argued that the dargah has been in revenue records for long and has a valid electric connection provided by Uttar Gujarat Vij Company Limited. The petition stated that during 2002 communal riots, a mob of anti-social elements damaged and tried to destroy the dargah.

An FIR was also registered by the vice-sarpanch of the village back then. The dargah came to be restored and in 2012 the gram panchayat issued a certificate stating that "the dargah was damaged in the year 2002 and managed by Mansuri Abbasbhai and Daudbhai Sinol."

Ten years later, in 2022, a resident filed an application to the panchayat claiming that the dargah was illegal. A meeting was held where it was resolved that the dargah was over 100 years old and a place of worship of the minority community. The application was not considered. However, a month later, the panchayat issued a letter to a local resident Bhikabhai Mansuri stating that the dargah was illegally constructed and sought to produce an ownership certificate.

After several rounds of notices and replies, the panchayat, on June 19, issued a notice that the dargah would be removed on June 28, prompting one of the trustees to take the matter to the high court.

This is a fresh case of a religious place belonging to a minority community facing demolition. Earlier, such places were demolished in Dahod district while riots broke out in Junagadh after notice seeking certificate of an old religious shrine was issued. Both these cases reached the high court.