Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has stayed an order by the Chief Executive Officer of the Maharashtra Waqf Board approving a new board of trustees for the Minara Masjid on Mohammad Ali Road.
On February 18, the bench comprising Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Dr Neela Gokhale, which heard an interim application by the old board of trustees of the mosque, said that the Waqf Board should not take any steps in pursuance of its order till the matter is heard again on March 13.
In its interim application, the board had asked for time to file affidavit-in-reply. The court has asked the board to ame to file the reply in two weeks.
Earlier this month, the Waqf Board, which is hearing complaints about illegal property deals by the mosques’s trustees, approved the appointment of a new board of trustees to take over its management. Later, the newly approved board said they will take the help of the police to take possession of one of the most important mosques in the city.
There are allegations that the trust made illegal transfers of 83 properties, violating Waqf law. The trust has been arguing that while it is a Muslim trust, they are not a Waqf trust. The Waqf Board has said that the trustees were removed and a new board was approved under sections 64 and 69 of the Waqf law.
The appointment of new new trustees has become controversial. Earlier this week, Samajwadi Party Member of Legislative Assembly Abu Asim Azmi called the Maharashtra State Board of Waqf’s recent decision to dismiss the trustees of Minara Masjid and approve the appointment of a new board of trustees to manage the mosque ‘illegal’.
Azmi, who addressed a press conference on Tuesday, said the Waqf Board has no authority over the Minara Masjid trust as the mosque is not a Wakf trust but a public body governed by the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950, (earlier called the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950) with the Charity Commissioner as the administrator.
“The Minara Masjid trust was created in 1879 and was registered under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act. The approval of the new trustees is a wrong decision,” said Azmi who said that he would raise the issue in the state assembly and ask for the suspension of Juned Sayyad who holds additional charge as Chief Executive Officer of the Waqf Board.
Azmi alleged that the transactions made by the trust with 83 tenants were not illegal. “The trust has taken consent from the tenants for redevelopment of the property owned by the trust. The properties were not sold but the Waqf Board said the properties were sold and dismissed the old board.”
The Minara Masjid was established by Memons and members of the community are appointed to its board.
