Himachal group seeks demolition of ‘illegal’ floors of Shimla mosque
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Shimla: Members of the Dev Bhoomi Sangarsh Samiti on Monday submitted a memorandum to the Shimla Municipal Commissioner seeking demolition of the top three floors of the Sanjauli mosque, which have been declared illegal by the court, following an order of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
A single-judge bench of Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, on December 3, ordered status quo on the lower two floors of the mosque while upholding the Shimla Municipal Commissioner Court’s direction that the top three floors, declared illegal, must be demolished.
In the memorandum submitted to Municipal Commissioner Bhupinder Attri, the Samiti demanded immediate execution of the court order and offered to demolish the illegal floors free of cost if the civic body faced any difficulty, Samiti convener Madan Thakur told PTI.
He said that of the three floors declared illegal, the top floor has already been demolished, and the organisation is willing to raze the remaining third and fourth floors of the five-storey structure at no cost.
Samiti co-convener Vijay Sharma said their objective was not to create any law and order issues but to ensure that the court’s directions were implemented “in letter and spirit”.
Earlier, the Wakf Board and the mosque committee had challenged the municipal court’s demolition order in the district court, which upheld the decision and directed demolition of the illegal structure by December 30. The Wakf Board subsequently moved the High Court, where the matter is scheduled for further hearing on March 9.
Meanwhile, on December 8, the All Himachal Muslims Organisation held a press conference and produced a 1915 revenue record, asserting that the Sanjauli mosque is a legally established place of worship. Organisation president Nazakat Ali Hashmi said the mosque has existed for over a century and figured in official revenue records in 1997-98 and 2003, alleging that later entries showing government ownership indicate tampering.
With PTI inputs