JOIN USIrked over alleged illegal construction adjacent to Jama Masjid here by its Shahi Imam and his kin, the Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the authorities, including Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), to stop disfiguration of the site near the monument.
“How this (illegal construction) is going on just adjacent to the Jama Masjid?,” Justice Vipin Sanghi said.
He also asked the city police, Delhi Development Authority and Municipal Corporation of Delhi to respond and act on the petition of Suhail Ahmed Khan, a Delhi resident.
The court also issued notices to Shahi Imam of the historic mosque, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari, and his three brothers, Syed Hasan Bukhari, Syed Yahia Bukhari and Syed Tarikh Bukhari, and fixed the matter for hearing on July 17.
“Director general of the ASI, MCD deputy commissioner (of the zone concerned) and DCP central district are directed to look into the matter and stop the alleged construction,” the court said.
The petition, filed through lawyers C Prakash and Rajesh Kumar Yadav, alleged that the Shahi Imam and his three brothers have been raising illegal construction adjacent to a wall of Jama Masjid in the walled city.
Khan, in his plea, also accused Bukhari brothers of illegally encroaching sites inside the mosque premises.
“Besides encroachment in the surroundings of the Jama Masjid, the respondent no 1 to 4 (Bukharis) in connivance with each other has recently started raising constructions just adjacent to the historical international mosque,” the petition said.
The Imam and his brothers have also illegally occupied "substantial portions of the mosque", it said, adding that the civic bodies and others concerned have failed to take any action against the illegal construction.