The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday (October 25) refrained from passing a status quo order regarding an alleged illegal demolition drive in Gujarat’s Gir Somnath district, which affected Islamic structures and houses belonging to members of the Muslim community, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan said that an interim order was unnecessary as solicitor general Tushar Mehta had assured the top court that the land would remain with the Gujarat government and not be allotted to a third party until further orders.
Gujarat authorities reportedly carried out an illegal demolition drive to remove encroachments on government land near the Somnath temple on September 28. Authorities said that the drive ‘freed’ 15 acres of government land, valued at Rs 60 crore, from religious structures and concrete houses.
The Supreme Court was hearing a special leave petition filed (SLP) by the Auliya-E-Deen Committee against a Gujarat high court order, passed on October 3, that refused to order status quo on this demolition.
“Learned SG says that until further orders, possession of land shall remain with [the] government and shall not be allotted to any third party. In this light, we don’t find necessary that any interim order be passed. We further clarify that the pendency of present SLP should not be construed as stay on the proceedings and High Court can continue with the matter,” the court said.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Auliya-E-Deen Committee, said that the land, which dates back to 1903, was previously registered in the committee’s name.
The senior advocate contended that the demolitions had been carried out in a ‘high-handed’ manner and without concern for the legal and historical status of the land. Sibal asked how the Gujarat government could proceed with the drive without resolving the issue of its ownership, adding that the land was registered under the Waqf Act.
Mehta said the disputed land was in possession of the Somnath Trust. He argued that the committee’s previous appeals to claim ownership of the land had been dismissed and thus its claims were misleading.
According to Mehta, the government had the legal right to remove what he described as “illegal constructions.”
Sibal countered this by referring to an order issued by the district collector, alleging that the demolitions violated this directive.
Mehta was directed to confirm the conditions outlined by the collector. The solicitor general said that the authorities would abide by these conditions and the land would be used for departmental purposes as intended.
According to Bar and Bench, the court, while leaning towards granting a status quo order, did not do so after Mehta’s assurance. The Gujarat high court will continue hearing the matter.