Lucknow: The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), entrusted with the task of Dhannipur mosque construction, heaved a sigh of relief on Monday after a Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court rejected the writ petition of two Delhi sisters challenging allotment of 5 acres of land for the mosque.
During arguments on the admissibility of the petition, the Additional Advocate General R.K. Singh brought to the notice of the court that Khasra numbers of the 5 acres of land allotted to the Central Sunni Waqf Board, on the direction of the Supreme Court November 7 2019 verdict, were different from that mentioned in the petition filed by the two Delhi sisters challenging the allotment.
On learning that wrong facts were placed before the court in the petition, the counsel for the two Delhi sisters, HGS Parihar pleaded before the court to withdraw the writ petition.
The two-member bench comprising Justice Devedra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Manish Kumar accepted the plea of petitioners’ counsel and dismissed the writ petition disallowing further arguments.
The two Delhi-based sisters Rama Rani Punjabi (59) and Rani Kapoor Punjabi alias Rani Kapoorf Baluja (51) had challenged the allotment of 5 acres of land in Ayodhya for construction mosque claiming it to be part of 28 acres land owned by their father in village Dhannipur.
The Revenue Officer Ayodhya Rajesh Kumar had earlier rejected their claims saying that land dispute was in nearby Shekhpur Zafar village. The allotted 5 acres of land bearing Khasra numbersf 100, 104, 105, 110 and 111 falls into Dhannipur village and is registered in revenue records in the name of Agriculture department of Ayodhya .
The IICF, which had laid the foundation stone on the Republic Day to begin construction of Dhannipur mosque, heaved a sigh of relief after the petition was rejected by the HC.
"It would have unnecessarily delayed the project which is going to benefit people in the surrounding villages of Ayodhya," said Athar Husain, the IICF Secretary.
