'Religious structure already functioning, let it be': SC rejects Delhi Waqf Board's claim on 'Gurdwara' land

During the hearing, senior advocate Sanjoy Ghose, who appeared for the Delhi Waqf Board, argued the lower courts held that a mosque was operational before the gurdwara was built.

In reply, Justice Satish Chandra Sharma said as quoted by NDTV, "Not 'some kind of'... a proper functioning gurdwara, and once there is a gurdwara, let it be. A religious structure is already functioning."

"You should yourself relinquish that claim, you see," the judge told the board.

The Waqf board argued that before the gurdwara was built, Masjid Takia Babbar Shah was on the land which was dedicated as Waqf or for other religious purposes.

Both in the Delhi High Court as well as the Supreme Court, the defendant argued the land is no longer a Waqf property as the then owner Mohd Ahsaan sold it in 1953.

The High Court fifteen years ago admitted that the land was sold by the then owner but also noted the defendant's inability to produce any document of its purchase.

However, the defendant's inability did not benefit the Waqf Board which, as per the High Court, will have to establish its own case.

The matter was raised amid the Supreme Court's ongoing hearing on a clutch of petitions that have challenged the Centre's amendment to the Waqf Act.

A number of petitions have been filed by the country's opposition parties, which are criticising the Modi government's Waqf (Amendment) Act.