The plea has sought the apex court’s leave to appeal. (File photo)
The Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Board of Waqf has moved Supreme Court, challenging a 1946 Faizabad civil court order rejecting its claim over Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid.
“(The) trial court committed error in not appreciating that it is the Wakif who creates Wakf. Even if someone (king) orders for building a mosque, the Wakif is the one who actually creates the Wakf by dedicating it to the God,’’ the petition said. “In the instant case admittedly the mosque was built by Abdul Mir Baqi presumably out of his funds since Babar stayed near Ayodhya only for 5-6 days whereas construction of mosque took much more time (demolition of temple and building of mosque)…’’
The plea has sought the apex court’s leave to appeal. “The trial court failed to appreciate that merely ‘ordering’ to build mosque does not make that person as Wakif. Someone has to build it and having title, may be in the edifice, can dedicate it to the God. Maybe that Babar ordered Abdul Mir Baqi to build mosque. Mir Baqi (Shia) chose the site and having demolished the temple got the mosque built and dedicated it to the God, thereby creating a Shia Wakf.’’
The petition has cited Faizabad court’s ruling on the Board’s claim that Babri Masjid was a Shia Waqf. “The trial court looked into the Gazetteer of this district which contains references to this mosque at P 173-174. It shows that according to local affirmations, Babar came to Ajodhia in 1528 AD. And halted here only for a week and it was during his regime the Janmasthan temple was destroyed and on its site a mosque was built using largely the materials of the old structure.”
The plea claimed that it was never in dispute before 1944 that Babri Masjid was a Shia Wakf. It added that Chief Commissioner for Wakf had “wrongly enlisted” it as a Sunni Waqf in 1944. The petition comes as the apex court is due Friday to take up appeals over Allahabad High Court’s 2010 order dividing the disputed 2.77 acres among Ram Lalla, Sunni Wakf Board and Nirmohi Akhara.
