CHANDIGARH: The Court of the Municipal Commissioner has ordered the demolition of two additional floors of the mosque in the Sanjauli area of Shimla, following a similar order issued last year for the demolition of three floors of the same mosque.
This decision was made after the Waqf Board failed to present the mosque’s revenue records during the court hearing.
The Waqf Board’s lawyer argued that the mosque originally existed before 1947 and was rebuilt after being demolished. However, Commissioner Bhupender Kumar Attri questioned why the necessary permissions, including architectural plans, were not obtained from the municipal corporation for the reconstruction.
MC Commissioner Attri ruled that the mosque had been built without the required approvals, including a building permit, a no-objection certificate, and a sanctioned map, all in violation of municipal regulations. He ordered the demolition of the lower two floors, in addition to the three floors previously ordered to be demolished in October last year.
Jagat Pal, the lawyer representing local residents who had sought the demolition of the mosque, stated that the Waqf Board failed to produce documents proving ownership of the land and the sanctioned building plan. “Following this, the Court of the Municipal Commissioner, Bhupender Kumar Attri, passed the demolition order. There is also a related matter pending before the Himachal Pradesh High Court, which is scheduled for hearing on May 8. Earlier, on October 5 last year, the Commissioner’s Court had ordered the demolition of three floors of the Sanjauli mosque,” he said.
Advocate B. S. Thakur, representing the Waqf Board, said that a detailed order is still awaited. “The Commissioner’s Court has pronounced the order, holding that the construction at the mosque site was illegal. The Sanjauli Mosque Committee had demolished the original mosque and erected a new structure without obtaining the required permissions from the concerned authorities, including the Municipal Corporation and the Estate Office. The court has not commented on the ownership of the land, which belongs to the Himachal Pradesh Waqf Board. We are waiting for the detailed order to decide the next course of action,” he said.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court had directed the Municipal Commissioner to decide the case within three months, by May 8. The Commissioner’s Court passed the order after hearing both parties.
