Plea in HC against acquirement of Waqf properties by Centre

A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court challenging the acquisition of over 300 Waqf properties in Delhi by the Centre.
The petition has sought directions to the Centre, the Delhi government, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and the Delhi Waqf Board to restore the possession of Waqf properties which were allegedly been taken over by the government without paying any compensation.
The petitioner, advocate Shahid Ali, said the intentions of the concerned officials of the Centre are malafide, contrary to the principles of natural justice and violative of the fundamental rights of the citizens.
The plea said that when any land is acquired by the government, an applicable compensation is paid to the owner. In this case, the Waqf land "is vested with God and no compensation can be made to the God" and hence, no acquirement can be made, it claimed.

"Allotment of Waqf land by the government to any person or institution or even acquirement of thereof is void under section 51 of Waqf Act 1995 which provided that any lease or any immovable property which is Waqf property, shall be void unless such lease is effective with the prior sanction of board," the plea said.
"Issue a writ of mandamus or any other or further writ order or direction thereby cancelling/ quashing of awards, by virtue of which 48 Waqf properties in district north, 165 Waqf properties in District South, 32 Waqf properties in District West , 24 Waqf properties in District New Delhi, 11 Waqf properties in District East, 40 Waqf properties in District South-East, 5 Waqf properties in District North-West, 8 Waqf properties in District Shahdra and 28 Waqf properties in District South-West were acquired by the government/UOI...

"...And further for restoring the possession of such Waqf properties in favour of Delhi Waqf Board, of which the possession has been acquired by the government," the plea said.
Earlier, the high court had on August 8, asked the AAP government and other agencies to enforce the pending eviction orders against encroachers of 990 Waqf properties in the national capital.