Stating that the officers of the Junagadh Municipal Corporation had “prima facie acted in defiance” of the directions of the Supreme Court as well as a subsequent policy of the state government in demolishing a 300-year-old Dargah, the Gujarat High Court on Friday issued a contempt notice to the then Municipal Commissioner Om Prakash and Senior Town Planner Vivek Kiran Parekh. The court was hearing an application moved by the Trustee of the Jok Alisha Dargah, a registered (Waqf) trust, under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, for “non-compliance and disobedience” of a 2018 order of the apex court.
A Division Bench of Justice A S Supehia and Justice R T Vachhani, in an oral order on Friday, issued the notice based on the 2018 order to remit cases of “existing unauthorized construction of the religious nature” to the respective High Courts.
The petition, filed in May this year, challenged the midnight demolition of the 300-year old dargah on April 17 by the Junagadh civic body, following multiple notices issued by the Senior Town Planner, contending that the civic body “did not consider” the reliance on the SC order as well as the fact of a pending civil petition before the High Court in the matter.
Stating that the dargah was registered as Jok Alisha Dargah Trust on April 8, 1964, the petition states, “The Jok Alisha Dargah has been situated at Gandhi Chowk in Junagadh since before India’s independence and is about 300 years old. The Muslim community and other devotees have regularly performed religious rites and observances at the Dargah. Further, annual Urs celebrations have also been held with prior permissions, including the use of loudspeakers.”
The petition relied on the order by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the High Courts concerned must supervise the implementation of the interim orders of the apex court in matters of regularization of the existing religious structures on public places, which had been under deliberation before the Supreme Court since 2006.
The Gujarat HC order on Friday stated, “It appears that the Supreme Court, initially passed an order on September 29, 2009, directing that by an interim measure, no unauthorized construction shall be carried out or permitted in the name of Temple, Church, Mosque or Gurudwara etc., on public streets, public parks or other public places. Further directions were issued that the unauthorized construction of the religious nature, which had already taken place (prior to the order), the State Governments and the Union Territories shall review the same on a case-to-case basis and take appropriate steps as expeditiously as possible…” The 2018 order of the top court also stated that “the interim orders wherever passed, shall continue, until the matters are considered by the High Court”.
The Gujarat HC order also referred to a state government policy dated April 19, 2024 that stipulates the constitution of committees by the Municipal Commissioner and District Collectors, as well as the appointment of Nodal Officers. The policy empowers the committee to prescribe various steps, such as the removal, relocation, and regularisation of unauthorised constructions.
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The court order noted that the Senior Town Planner of the Junagadh civic body issued a notice on January 31 this year to the petitioner for removing the alleged unauthorised dargah and called upon the petitioner for submission of necessary documents pertaining to the ownership within three days. The petitioner replied and complied, by submitting documents on February 3, 2025, also “pointing out the directions issued by the Supreme Court along with the relevant documents about the ownership and the local authorities… referencing also to the proceedings pending before this Court (in a 2006 Special Civil Application)…”
The court further noted that the Senior Town Planner issued a “last notice” on April 9, 2025, calling upon the applicant to remove the disputed structure within five days. While the petitioner replied on April 15 this year reiterating the request and pointing out that the dargah had been there for the last 300 years, on April 17, the respondents demolished it.
The court order stated, “Prima facie, at this stage, we are of the opinion that the respondents have acted in defiance of the directions of the Supreme Court and the Policy dated April 19, 2024. Since liberty is reserved in favour of the respective High Courts to proceed in Contempt if any of the directions issued by the Supreme Court are violated, we deem appropriate to call upon the respondents… Issue notice (to the two respondents), making it returnable on July 28.”
Earlier in June, Prakash was transferred and appointed as the District Collector of Rajkot while Tejas Parmar took over as the Municipal Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation.
