Gujarat HC dismisses pleas challenging notices on anti-encroachment drives in Beyt Dwarka

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Ahmedabad, Feb 4 (PTI) The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday dismissed a batch of petitions challenging notices directing anti-encroachment drives on lands with two cemeteries, two dargahs and a madrassa in Devbhumi Dwarka district.

The court of Justice Mauna Bhatt noted that the government has said it would not carry out any demolition at Haji Kirmani dargah, which was constructed on one of those lands on Beyt Dwarka island in 1999 after due permission.

The petitioner, Bet Bhadela Muslim Jamat, had contended that the structures were Waqf properties and were religious in nature, with sentiments of the community attached to them.

It claimed that the notices issued for demolition were "without the due procedure of law, are vague in nature and lack details" and contended that they were not issued under the provision of section 185 of the Gujarat Municipalities Act.

The court dismissed the petitions and said they were without merits and did not call for any consideration. It also vacated interim relief granted earlier and refused to grant further interim relief as requested.

The court accepted the government's contention that the Government Resolutions dated 1986 and 1989 made it clear that the land allotted for crematorium or graveyard belongs to the government, and illegal encroachment on such lands is prevented except for erecting fences after permission from the prant officer.

As per the 1989 GR, if the stated land is used for a purpose other than for which it was demarcated, the state government can take it back without any notice and delay, the court noted.

In its submission, the government highlighted the geographical importance of the area, saying the region has become "a hub for anti-national activities, particularly smuggling of narcotics, for which FIRs have been lodged".

It said that the first information reports (FIRs) registered at the local police station depicted how anti-social elements were misusing the structures in question.

In the past three years, Pakistan authorities apprehended 38 fishermen from Devbhoomi Dwarka, and they have remained in jail in the neighbouring country.

The government submitted in court that according to the intelligence report available with the district administration, these fishermen were subjected to religious indoctrination at madrassas during their incarceration before being permitted to return to India.

The government had argued that the land given for the use of a cemetery can't become a Waqf property, adding that the petitioner has no ownership, authority, right and/or interest over the subject lands.

It cited GRs dated August 17, 1984, and September 12, 1989, which declared the allotted land for a specific purpose to be of the ownership of the state government only and prevented any committee, trust or Waqf from transferring such land in their name.

The Okha municipality issued notices in December last year and January this year, after which the petitioner approached the high court.

On the said lands with three survey numbers, one was a dargah, and two cemeteries, with a madrassa and a dargah constructed on each.

The petitioner told the court that Haji Kirmani Dargah was constructed on the land with a cemetery in 1999 after due permission from the panchayat.

The other land in question, also being used as a cemetery, has the Shaikhpir Dargah since time immemorial, and the land for the same was offered by the collector to the panchayat in 1967, it had said.

The dargah was used for religious observances and managed by Bet Bhadela Muslim Jamat since 1953, it said. The lands in question, thus, are Waqf properties for which notices were "illegally issued by the chief officer of Okha Nagarpalika", it said.

The government said the local authorities have undertaken the anti-encroachment drive in a phased manner from December 23 last year, and several houses of Hindu Pujaris near Siddhnath Temple were peacefully removed in the first phase.

A total of 1,21,746 sq metres of government land, worth around Rs 62.72 crore, has been freed of illegal encroachment.

The third phase of the drive started on January 18 this year, it said.

"Moreover, it cannot be ignored that one of the structures, for which notice has been issued, is a school or a madrassa in a cemetery, and a school or a madrassa for religious activity cannot be permitted to be carried out in a cemetery," the government stated in its submission. PTI KA PD ARU