The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea challenging a Madhya Pradesh High Court order that had rejected a petition seeking directions for the reconstruction of Takiya Masjid, a 200-year-old mosque in Ujjain, which was demolished earlier this year following land acquisition for the expansion of the Mahakal Lok Parishar parking area.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta refused to interfere with the October 7 decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s division bench, which upheld a single judge’s order dismissing the plea for reconstruction of the mosque.
During the hearing, the counsel appearing for the 13 petitioners submitted that the mosque, declared a Waqf property in 1985, was demolished only because parking space was required. He argued that “you need parking for some other religious place and you demolish the mosque and say you do not have a right.”
The bench, however, observed, “It was required under the statutory scheme, compensation paid. You filed a writ petition challenging the same acquisition which was dismissed as withdrawn.”
Rejecting the plea, the court said, “Too late now, nothing can be done. Dismissed,” noting that the high court had given adequate reasoning in its order.
Before the high court, the petitioners had claimed they were residents of Ujjain who regularly offered namaz at the mosque and sought reconstruction of the demolished structure. The authorities, however, informed the court that the land had been acquired after following due legal process, compensation was duly paid, and the property had vested in the state government.
The high court had earlier held, “The petitioners have no locus to seek reconstruction of the masjid. We do not find any ground to interfere with the order passed by the writ court,” adding that there was no illegality in demolishing the mosque to make the land vacant for the parking expansion.
The demolition of the Takiya Masjid in January had followed a land acquisition process initiated for the Mahakal Lok project, a major redevelopment and pilgrimage infrastructure initiative surrounding the Mahakaleshwar temple complex in Ujjain.
