COURTESY HT FEB 9

HC dismisses plea against allotment of land for mosque
Pawan Dixit

letters@hindustantimes.com

LUCKNOW : The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the allotment of five acres of land in Dhannipur village of Ayodhya district for the construction of a mosque after the Delhi-based sisters who challenged the move withdrew their plea.

The Uttar Pradesh government allotted the land to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) for construction of a mosque in compliance with the Supreme Court’s November 2019 order that allotted the site, where the Babi mosque once stood, to the Hindu claimants. The court order ended a decades-old dispute between Hindu and Muslim claimants to the land.

A two-judge bench of justices Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and justice Manish Kumar of the high court passed Monday’s order after the petitioners agreed to withdraw the plea. The high court also gave the petitioners permission to file a fresh plea after ascertaining facts.

Delhi-based sisters Rani Kapoor Punjabi alias Rani Baluja and Rama Rani Punjabi filed the petition on February 3, claiming ownership of the five-acre land.

“After arguing at some length, the learned senior advocate appearing for the petitioners stated that he be permitted to withdraw the petition with liberty to the petitioner to file afresh petition,” the court said.

“In view of the aforesaid, the writ petition is dismissed as withdrawn with the aforesaid liberty,” the court added.

Senior advocate HGS Parihar appeared on behalf of the petitioners, assisted by advocate Meenakshi Singh. Additional advocate general RK Singh appeared before the court on behalf of the state government.

Opposing the writ petition, Singh told the court that the plot numbers allotted for the construction of the mosque were different from those mentioned in the petition.

The state presented a letter before the HC on behalf of the Ayodhya administration, stating that the land being disputed by the petitioners was in the adjoining village of Sheikhpur Jafar, and not in Dhannipur village.

The two sisters claimed in their petition that their father Gyan Chand Punjabi was allotted 28 acres in Dhannipur village by the Nazul department (responsible for government land allotments) for five years for ₹1,560 when the family moved to Faizabad district (now Ayodhya) from Punjab in Pakistan after Partition in 1947. They said their father remained in possession of the land beyond that period. Later, his name was included in the revenue records, the petitioners added. Subsequently, when his name was removed, their father filed an appeal before the additional commissioner, Ayodhya, which was allowed, they saidA