The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court’s interim order that had stayed the state Wakf Board’s proceedings
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to interfere with the Bombay High Court’s interim order that had stayed the state Wakf Board’s proceedings on the legality of the ownership of the 4,532-sq metre plot where Mukesh Ambani is building his 27-storey house.
However, a bench of justices H K Sema and Markandey Katju said the petitioner could move the HC afresh and plead for early disposal of the pending matters.
Ambani had purchased the land in 2002. However, the Board had moved high court against Antilia constr-uctions that carried out the deal, asking for restoration of land, alleging that its transfer was illegal.
Later, the state government had ordered an inquiry, but said the matter should be worked out between the Wakf Board and Ambani.
Although the counsel for chief executive officer of Wakf Properties, based in Aurangabad, sought lifting of the stay that they said facilitated speedy construction of the residential complex, judges said since the HC had not passed a final order, they would not interfere at this stage. The under construction Rs8000-crore structure on Altamount road that faces the Arabian Sea, has been billed as the costliest home by Forbes magazine.
When petitioner’s lawyer Rao Ranjit argued that an irreparable damage had been done to Wakf Board, the court remarked that if the construction is found to be unauthorised, it could be pulled down.
Former Attorney General Ashok H Desai and former Solicitor General Harish Salve watched the proceedings today.
The land in question had been given to a charitable trust, Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Orphanage. However, since the trust wanted to run the orphanage somewhere else, it was sold at Rs21 crore to Antilia.
According to a lawyer of the Wakf Board, the current price of the plot is above Rs 400 crore.
“It’s a serious issue, after all the property of the Wakf Board is involved in the dispute,” said Ranjit.
He said only the Tribunal set up under the Wakf Act is empowered to deal with the disputes relating to the properties belonging to the Wakf.
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