NDMC will hear objections over masjid removal

NEW DELHI: The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on Wednesday told the Delhi high court that public objections against the proposed removal of the 150-year-old Sunehri Masjid will be considered by the law.

Additional solicitor general (ASG) Chetan Sharma, representing NDMC, informed a bench of justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav that the authority had received thousands of objections, and it will not only consider the mosque’s imam’s objections but also those of the public.

The law officer made submissions in a plea filed by the masjid’s imam, Abdul Aziz, challenging NDMC’S notice inviting objections.

The December 24, 2023, notice was published in the newspaper days after the high court closed the Delhi Waqf Board’s (DWB) plea seeking to restrain the NDMC from demolishing or razing portions of the historical mosque near the Udyog Bhawan Metro station at the roundabout where Maulana Azad Road, Motilal Nehru Marg, and Kamraj Road meet.

Aziz, in the plea, had claimed that the notice was issued with “malafide intentions without any application of mind and that the structure was being targeted without any research, data, statistics, or demonstration to show that there was any traffic congestion due to its existence”.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the imam, represented by senior advocate Viraj R Datar, submitted that he will withdraw the petition, provided the court directs the authorities concerned to consider the objections according to the law.

The ASG also raised objections regarding the maintainability of the imam’s petition. ASG Sharma said that only the DWB could have filed the petition.

Consequently, the court disposed of the petition after taking the ASG’S statement on record that the public objections would be considered according yo the law. The judge added that “the authority concerned at this stage had to dwell upon the objections and suggestions received by the public and the court was thus not inclined to pass any positive directions in the matter”.

The Delhi traffic police had in February informed the court that the matter regarding the demolition of the masjid has been referred to the Heritage Conservation Committee (HCC).

NDMC had proposed removing the mosque, designated as a grade III heritage structure by the Delhi government in a 2009 notification, alleging that it is obstructing the safe and smooth flow of traffic.