Let the gurdwara be: SC junks Delhi Waqf Board’s plea claiming rights on property

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by the Delhi Waqf Board which claimed possession of a property on which a gurdwara is located in the national capital’s Shahdara area. Ruling in favour of the gurdwara, the apex court rejected the board’s contention that the property in question was waqf.

“There is a gurdwara, let it be. Even if there is any claim, you should relinquish that claim saying a gurdwara is already there,” a bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma told the Delhi Waqf Board counsel who argued for possession of the gurdwara property.

The SC was hearing the board’s petition challenging a September 2010 Delhi High Court order, which rejected its suit for possession of the stated property. The Board submitted that the property in question was a waqf property and had been in use as a waqf since time immemorial.

Arguing for the board, the counsel flagged findings of a trial judge that a mosque existed there.

The counsel further argued that one of the defendant himself admitted that there was a mosque and “some kind of a gurdwara” which was not registered.

The SC in its orders dismissing the board’s petition today said, “Not some kind of a gurdwara, it is a fully functional gurudwara.”

The apex court highlighted the high court’s orders noting the functioning of a gurdwara at the contested property since 1947.