The Gujarat High Court has ordered the Railways’ authorities and Rail Bhavan to maintain the status quo on an eviction notice issued to the management of the Kalu Shaheed Dargah located near Ahmedabad’s Kalupur railway station.
The order was passed by the single-judge Bench of Justice Vaibhavi D Nanavati on a petition filed by caretaker of the Dargah, Sabirhusen Malek, seeking to quash a notice issued by the Railway authorities and to stay the effect of the notice till the final decision was taken on the petition.
The Western Railway division and the Rail Land Development Authority had issued a notice to the management of the Hazrat Kalu Shaheed Dargah in October 2023, asking it to remove the ‘unauthorised‘ Dargah within 14 days from the railway premises.
The notice was issued in pursuance of the proposed plan to expand and redevelop the Ahmedabad Railway Station (aka Kalupur Railway Station).
Justice Nanavati said he deemed it fit to issue notice to the rail authorities returnable for January 16, 2024. The High Court further ordered the authorities to maintain the properties as they were till the next date of hearing.
The caretaker of the Dargah submitted in the petition that the notice of Railway authorities violated the provisions of the Waqf Act, 1995, as being a waqf property, no action could be taken concerning the dargah without approval or consultation with the Waqf Board.
The petition further argued that the Railway authorities have been collecting licence fees from the Dargah since 1912 and therefore, they cannot now say that the property in question was unauthorised, as the same would be contrary to the Railways’ records.
The plea further prayed that the shrine’s management had the requisite documentation to disprove the Railway authorities’ contention that it was an ‘unauthorised’ construction.