HC grants interim stay on Jalgaon collector's order restricting entry to mosque

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted an interim stay for two weeks on the Jalgaon district collectors order restraining people from praying at a mosque on a complaint by an outfit which claimed the structure has the appearance of a templeA single bench of Justice R M Joshi of the Aurangabad bench of the HC issued notice to the respondents in the plea and posted the matter for further hearing after two weeksUntil then the impugned order passed by the district collector is stayed the bench said while hearing the petition filed by Jumma Masjid Trust CommitteeAn outfit Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti had claimed the concerned structure resembles a temple and it was being encroached upon by MuslimsHowever the trust panel which maintains the mosque claimed to possess records to show the existence of the structure at least since 1861The trust panel filed a petition in the high court through its president Altaf Khan challenging the collectors order passed on July 11 2023The trust claimed the collectors order ordered directing them to hand over keys of the mosque to the Erandol municipal councils chief officer was arbitrary and illegalThe order was passed under sections 144 and 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as per which the status quo shall be maintained pending a final decision on the dispute of the landAs per the plea the mosque has been in existence for decades and the Maharashtra government had declared the structure of the masjid as an ancient and historical monument which is enlisted in the schedule of protected monumentsThe petitioner stated the trust committee has been taking utmost care and no complaint was received in that regard by the Archaeological Department or even the state governmentIn May this year the Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti in order to create disturbance in Jalgaons Erandol taluka submitted an application to the district collector claiming the ancient monument is having the appearance of a mandir and therefore the occupation of the Muslim community must be vacated the plea saidThe Samiti had demanded that the illegal construction made by the petitioner trust be removed and a madrasa Islamic seminary run by trustees be not allowedPursuant to the complaint the collector issued a notice to the petitioner trust on June 14 directing the trustees to remain present on June 27 for a hearingThe plea claimed the trustees appeared before the collectors office but since he was busy that day no hearing took placeOn a later date the petitioner trust sought time from the collector to go through the complaint and file its response the plea saidThe learned Collector was not in a mood to hear anything from the petitioner thereafter and without giving any opportunity to the petitioner on 11072023 the Collector Jalgaon passed an order under Sections 144 and 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the plea saidAs per the order only two persons are allowed to offer namaz in the mosque currently and no one else can enter Kazi saidThe plea claimed the collectors order was arbitrary illegal and passed in haste without granting the petitioner an opportunity to put forth its caseIt requested the HC to quash and set aside the collectors orderThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever