Summary
The Rajasthan Waqf Board challenged permission to remove a dilapidated structure in land leased for mining, claiming that it was a notified mosque. The Court found that the Board’s records located the mosque in another survey number and did not establish dedication or religious use of the disputed structure. It dismissed the appeals while preserving the State lessor’s power to act under the lease on sufficient grounds after observing natural justice.
Issues
- Whether the disputed structure in the mining lease area was established to be waqf property.
- Whether the State’s asserted identification of the structure as religious justified interference with the lessee.
Provisions considered
- Section 3(r), as applicable to the dispute, Waqf Act, 1995The claimed religious status required proof linking the disputed structure to dedication or qualifying user; the relied-on records concerned a different parcel. (¶ 16-18)
Held
- The Board’s documents placed the notified mosque in Survey No.931, whereas the disputed mining land was Survey No.6731. No assertion or proof established renumbering from the former to the latter. The claimed waqf therefore had not been identified with the leased parcel; inconsistent area descriptions and hearsay correspondence did not cure that defect. (¶¶ 13, 16)
- No evidence established dedication, qualifying user or grant of the disputed structure as waqf. The expert report was relevant to absence of archaeological or historical importance, rather than independently determining religious status. On this evidentiary record, a dilapidated wall or platform could not be treated as a mosque merely by assertion. (¶ 17-18)
- The State produced no record of its asserted determination that this parcel contained a religious structure or of participation by the lessee. Its powers as lessor remained exercisable under the lease on good and sufficient grounds after compliance with natural justice. (¶ 19)
Result
Appeals dismissed. The State’s power as lessor to take a properly supported decision under the lease after observing natural justice was preserved.