Allahabad HC dismisses plea claiming ownership of land allotted for Ayodhya mosque

Sushree Mohanty

Allahabad High Court rejected a petition filed against the allotment of land in Ayodhya’s Dhannipur town for the development of a mosque, following the Supreme Court decision in the Ram Janma bhoomi-Babri Masjid case.

The two sister who are residents of Delhi, had moved a petition before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on February 3, 2021, contending the ownership for five-acre of land allotted to the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board for the mosque.

Representing the State, Additional Advocate General Ramesh Kumar Singh had challenged the petition, saying the plot numbers allocated for the mosque are not the same as those the plea is filed about.

The bench comprising of judges D K Upadhyay and Manish Kumar rejected the petition after the applicant’s advocate, H G S Parihar, sought to withdraw the said plea.

The bench additionally addressed its concerns with Parihar for filing the petition in a negligible manner without discovering or ascertaining the real facts.

Rani Kapoor, (also known as Rani Baluja) and Rama Rani Punjabi had claimed in their petition that their father Gyan Chandra Punjabi had come to India during partition in 1947 from Punjab and consequently settled in Faizabad (presently in Ayodhya).

They asserted that their dad was allocated 28 acres of land in Dhannipur village by the Nazul Department for a period of five years. However, Mr. Gyan Chandra Punjabi continued to hold the possession of the said land beyond the prescribed period as well.

Subsequently, his name was entered into the revenue records, the candidates had said.

Later his name was removed from the records against which their father had filed an appeal before the Additional Commissioner, Ayodhya, which was permitted by the Hon’ble Court, they added.

The applicants further claimed that the consolidation officer again struck down their father’s name from the records during the consolidation procedures.

An appeal challenging the order of the consolidation official was filed before the before the Settlement Officer of Consolidation, Sadar, Ayodhya.

However, without considering the already pending appeal, the authorities allotted a five acre portion from the said 28-acre of land to the Waqf Board for the building of mosque, the petitioners alleged.

The petitioners, in their plea demanded for the authorities to be restrained against transferring the land to the Sunni Waqf Board until a settlement is reached before settlement officer.

The state government has designated five-acre of land to the Sunni Waqf Board in Dhannipur town for development of a mosque in consistence with the Supreme Court verdict in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri mosque title suit.

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