The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a halt to any new construction or renovation at the centuries-old religious structures inside the Mehrauli Archaeological Park in the national capital, including the 13th-century Ashiq Allah Dargah and Chillagah of Baba Farid, the revered Sufi saint.
File Photo: Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a halt to any new construction or renovation at the centuries-old religious structures inside the Mehrauli Archaeological Park in the national capital, including the 13th-century Ashiq Allah Dargah and Chillagah of Baba Farid, the revered Sufi saint.
Staying further construction/renovation in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna heading a bench also comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar said that for the renovation, permission under the existing laws would be needed.
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The top court ordered a stay on the construction/renovation while hearing a plea by one Zameer Ahmed Jumlana seeking protection of the religious structures inside the archaeological park from demolition.
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Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta referred to the Archeological Survey of India’s (ASI) status report and said a historical monument found there was built around 700 years ago.
Jumlana, in his plea, has said that the Delhi Development Authority had planned the demolition of the structures in the name of removing encroachments without assessing their historical significance.
The petitioner moved the top court against a February 8, 2025, Delhi High Court order which said Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena-headed religious committee could consider the matter.
Jumlana contended that the committee was not an appropriate forum to decide the antiquity of a structure.
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