Allahabad High Court orders shifting of religious places built on public land
LUCKNOW: Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered immediate shifting of all religious places which have been constructed on public land after January 1, 2011 and encroach upon roads, pathways, lanes and side roads.
However, those encroachments which were done before January 2011, the court has directed that they be shifted from their present place within six months. Hearing a writ petition filed by one Mahmood Hussain of Fatehpur, a division bench comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Ajit Kumar also directed that the DM, Circle officer of police,
Superintendent of police and senior superintendent of police will be accountable for the encroachments made on road after June 10, 2016.
In addition to it, the court also directed the Chief Secretary of the state to issue circular to all the district magistrates and superintendent of police to ensure accountability in respect of constructions made after encroaching the public roads.
The court has also directed the state government to make a policy so that no encroachment could be caused on public road, street, footpath, lane, service lane etc throughout the state. Passing the above directives, the court also directed the chief secretary to file compliance report before the court within three weeks.
The court further said that there cannot be waqf on agricultural land as the agriculture land is owned by the state government. In the present case, the court has declared the Masjid Garib Nawaz, a mosque built by one Mahmood Husain on his agriculture land at village Chauryani at Fatehpur as illegal.
Besides, the court has also upheld the order of DM, Fatehpur by which he had refused to grant permission to offer namaz on the said mosque.The petitioner had approached the high court challenging the above order of DM, Fatehpur.