No alternate land to relocate mosque in premise: Allahabad High Court to Supreme Court

"There is no alternate land to relocate the mosque in its premises," the Allahabad High Court told the Supreme Court on Monday, asking the state government to instead consider relocating the mosque to another land. The case at hand was the Waqf Board's challenge in the SC against the Allahbad HC's November 8, 2017 decision directing the removal of a mosque situated in the high court premises within three months. In the last hearing, the apex court had directed the parties to arrive at a consensus on where the mosque should be constructed.

On Monday, however, a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud sought the view of the Uttar Pradesh government and directed the Sunni Central Waqf Board to serve the copy on the counsel for the state government.

Representing the HC, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi argued that the HC was already facing a space crunch due to the shortage of parking area for the advocates, and hence there was no alternate land for the mosque within its premises.

Meanwhile, Waqf board's advocate, Kapil Sibal challenged the shifting of the mosque by suggesting that the structure had been there for several decades and it can't be just asked to move out.

In November, the Allahbad HC had noted that due to the "acute crunch of space", the Waqf property spread over 400 metres was causing hindrance to the movement of the fire brigade in the premises of and then issued an order directing: "The unauthorised possession, as well as the unauthorised structures existing over the site in dispute, cannot be permitted to continue any longer."