SC orders status quo on HC order to raze Waqf building
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday ordered status quo on a Patna High Court order directing demolition of Waqf building adjacent to HC “Centenary Building”.
A bench of Justices UU Lalit, Ajay Rastogi and Vikram Nath issued notices to the Bihar government, registrar general of the Patna High Court and others on an appeal filed by Bihar State Sunni Waqf Board.
The matter has been listed for next hearing on October 18.
The board, in its plea, had submitted that the HC not only travelled beyond the issues framed by it but also proceeded to direct demolition of the entire structure of the proposed Waqf Bhawan Building, solely due to the reason that the building’s height was in excess of 10 metres in violation of Bye Law No. 21 of the Bihar Building Bye-Laws, 2014.
The plea said the demolition order was given for the entire building even though the petitioner Waqf Board as well as all the state authorities had themselves agreed to demolish the offending portion of the building (i.e. to bring the building within the height of 10 metres).
The plea, filed through advocate Ejaz Maqbool, stated that the entire project was undertaken with due sanction of the map/plan by a government architect and that the HC erred in proceeding on the basis that the building was being constructed without any sanction.
The petition submitted that the construction plans were approved by Bihar’s minority welfare department and the map and plan of construction was approved by the senior architect of the Bihar State Building Construction Corporation, which is a government company, and therefore no separate sanction was required from the Patna Municipal Corporation.
On March 1, 2021, the HC took suo motu cognisance of the matter and formulated four questions for consideration. On August 3, in a in its 4:1 judgment, it ordered the demolition of the Waqf building within a month.
The HC had also directed the Bihar government to constitute an inquiry commission to fix responsibility on officials who allowed the construction of the building.