Gujarat HC refuses to stop partial demolition of ‘400-year-old’ mosque for road-widening project

The Gujarat High Court on Friday declined to interfere with an order refusing to stop the partial demolition of a mosque said to be about 400 years old in Ahmedabad, Live Law reported. A part of the structure is being set back to widen a road leading to the Sabarmati railway station.

A division bench of Justices AS Supehia and LS Pirzada noted that the mosque, known as Mancha Masjid, was not being completely demolished.

The bench agreed with a September 23 order issued by a single-judge bench that the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation followed the required procedure before deciding to set back a part of the premises of the mosque in Saraspur.

The mosque’s mutawalli, or custodian, had filed an appeal after the single judge had rejected his petition challenging the municipal corporation’s action.

Before the single judge, the mutawalli had submitted that the name of the mosque appeared in the revenue records, Live Law reported. He added that the structure had been reconstructed and renovated several times, and that it had its own significance in the Muslim community.

The property in question was also controlled and supervised by the waqf board, he added.

A waqf is an endowment under Islamic law dedicated to a religious, educational or charitable cause. Each state has a waqf board led by...

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