Bhopal land dispute: Man approaches MP Waqf Tribunal for stay

BHOPAL: A man approached the

Madhya Pradesh Waqf Tribunal

demanding a stay on an order on a piece of land in Bhopal which was the cause of tension a few days ago and resulted in curfew being clamped in the area. The piece of land is in the possession of

Rajdev Jan Seva Nyas

(Trust) and is located near the RSS divisional office '

Keshav Needam

' in Kabadkhana area in the walled part of the capital.

Petitioner Mohammad Suleman's lawyer

Rafi Zubairi

on Saturday said his client had sought an urgent hearing for a stay and status quo after the land was "hurriedly" handed over the trust citing a court order.

"There is no such court order in the public domain. The MP Waqf Tribunal has set January 27 for delivering an order on our application for urgent hearing," Zubairi told .

On the other hand, the trust's lawyer,

Bansilal Israni

said the 37,000 square feet land was bought by the developer of Rajdev Colony in 1964 from a private person, whose family had two graves on this land.

"The land was transferred to the Trust but Waqf Board entered the land into its record ten years later (after the transfer in the name of the trust). Around 20 years ago, permission was taken for the construction of a building on the land, which the authority later canceled," he said.

"The trust then approached court, which ruled that the permission for the building cannot be canceled as the said land was private property," Israni told .

However, one Mohammad Suleman went to MP Waqf Tribunal claiming the land was part of a graveyard, and the SDM court gave an order in favour of the trust in 2018, after which possession of the piece of land was taken recently, Israni said.

He said a boundary wall was being constructed around the plot, and added there was no stay from any court on this.

The Waqf Board's lawyer, Sharif Khan, said the land is mentioned in the board's records but the trust has said it had purchased it from a private party.

"The court will decide who is the owner of the land," he said.

Meanwhile, the lawyer of a private party, Jagdish Chhavani, said the Tribunal, after hearing arguments, set January 27 to deliver an order on Suleman's plea seeking maintenance of the 2016 situation of the land.

On January 17, the Bhopal district administration had imposed curfew for a day under three police station limits and prohibitory orders in some other areas as a precautionary measure over the construction of a boundary wall on this land.

The police presence continues, though Deputy Inspector General of Police Irshad Wali said there was no tension in the area and the deployment was just to "control any situation".