The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) not to take action against it, providing relief to the royal Idgah located in Sadar Bazar area in the matter of using the park last year.
Justice Vikas Mahajan issued a notice to the DDA on Thursday on a petition filed by the royal Idgah Management Committee and sought a reply from the authority. The High Court told the DDA, “Notify again on 10 September. Meanwhile, keeping in mind the fact that the Waqf Tribunal is inactive, where the petitioner has filed the case, it is directed that the DDA will not take any action according to his notice of February 11, 2025.
The petitioner’s counsel said that in December 2024, the DDA’s 11 February notice was demanded to use Rs 12 lakh to use the park around Idgah for organizing the religious program Ijtima (a type of religious gathering).
The lawyer said that the park is part of the Idgah campus and the DDA has no claim on this and a case has been filed in the Waqf Tribunal against the authority’s claim.
However, he said that since the Tribunal is inactive in the absence of quorum, the DDA should not take any action. The DDA counsel said that the single judge of the High Court had considering the petition of the petitioner to install the statue of Maharani Laxmi Bai there, describing the park as the property of the DDA. The lawyer said that the petitioner had appealed before the bench against the decision of the single judge, which did not intervene.