Dargah demolition row: SC seeks Uttarakhand reply to contempt plea

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (May 13, 2025) decided to examine a contempt petition filed against the Uttarakhand Chief Secretary and other State officials for the alleged demolition of a waqf property in breach of an undertaking given to the apex court on April 17.

The Union government had, on April 17, undertaken to ensure that there would be no change in the status or character of waqf properties during the pendency of a challenge to the Waqf Amendment Act of 2025.

A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and A.G. Masih issued notice to the respondents, including Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan and other district and municipal officers.

The petitioner, Mehfooz Ahmed, claimed that the Dargah Hazrat Kamal Shah in Uttarakhand was demolished without any prior warning or notice on the intervening night of April 25-26. He claimed the dargah was registered as a waqf property in 1982, notified as a waqf in 1986 and mapped in Waqf Asset Management System of India.

“In teeth of the above undertaking as recorded in the order dated April 17, the respondents/alleged contemnors have demolished the dargah in question in the dark of the night without even granting an opportunity of hearing or any notice,” the plea said.

It claimed that the offending action was undertaken on a drive conducted by the authorities in Dehradun. The plea also referred to the apex court’s November 13, 2024 verdict which laid down pan-India guidelines and barred demolition of properties without a prior show-cause notice and 15 days’ time to the aggrieved party to respond.

The plea contended that the action of the State officials was in direct contravention of the April 17 order, which recorded the statement given by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was appearing for the Centre in the matter related to the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025.