Madhya Pradesh High Court has served notices on Madhya Pradesh Wakf Board chief executive officer (CEO) MS Zaidi, Principal Secretary (PS) of Minority Welfare, Rajesh Mishra and eight others, including Bhopal Collector, Bhopal Municipal Commissioner and directors of five marriage gardens to explain the encroachments on Wakf property in the State capital.
A petition to initiate contempt proceedings was filed by Bhopal resident Hifzur Rehman, who claimed that invaluable land belonging to the board in and around Koh-e-Fiza, could be usurped by the builders who had already encroached upon the area. Not only private individuals and realtors, even the city municipal corporation is eyeing this prime land and is in the process of constructing school buildings there.The matter, the applicant said, was brought to the court's notice in 2009 and all illegal constructions were stopped subsequently.
However, fresh attempts have begun three years later. This is a clear violation of the court's order and therefore amounts to contempt of court, the petitioner claimed before a division bench of Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde and Justice Subhash Kankade.
Meanwhile, the court has granted two weeks' time to CEO, MP Wakf Board, PS, Minority Welfare department, DM, Bhopal, Chairman, Bhopal Development Authority, Commissioner, Bhopal Municipal Corporation and directors of Gulshan Marriage Garden, Sundarwan Marriage Garden, layan Marriage Garden, Moonlight Marriage Garden and landmark Marriage Garden, to file their reply.
Counsel for the petitioner, Prashant Chourasiya, while talking to The Pioneer said the court had given two weeks' time to the respondents to file their replies and the next hearing is fixed for April 15.
The petition was filed by my client, Hifzur Rehman on February 25 this year, he added.