By PTI
SURAT: Days after the Gujarat High Court refused to entertain a petition challenging a demolition notice to a madrasa or Islamic seminary in Gopi Talav area here, the Surat Municipal Corporation on Thursday razed its remaining parts to the ground, said an official.
The management of the religious school had contended before the high court that the school had been built on the land donated through an oral gift deed.
The SMC, on the other hand, argued that it had acquired the land from the owners long ago and they were duly compensated for it, hence the school structure was unauthorized.
With the help of police, civic authorities on Thursday razed the remaining structure on the ground floor.
The two upper floors had already been demolished by the management of the madrasa recently, said Gayatri Jariwala, Deputy Municipal Commissioner.
“After the High Court dismissed their petition, we had asked the management to remove the structure themselves. They removed the upper two floors and today we removed the remaining ground structure. The area is now completely clear,” she said.
The high court on May 17 dismissed a petition filed by Madrasa-e-Anwar Rabbani Waqf Committee which ran the madrasa, challenging a notice issued by the SMC first in October 2021 asking for its removal.
Fearing demolition, the waqf committee had first moved the Waqf Tribunal which granted a status- quo order.
It was not extended after the SMC filed its reply before the tribunal claiming ownership of the land.
The civic body issued another notice to the committee on December 29, 2021.
Later, by an order dated March 28, 2022, an executive engineer of the SMC directed removal of the madrasa within seven days on the ground that the construction was unauthorized.
The waqf committee moved the HC, claiming that Ashiq Hussain Abdul Hussain and his five brothers had donated the land to the committee by way of an oral gift deed for the purpose of running a madrasa there.
The SMC submitted that the land was acquired in 1967 to develop a garden and lake as per town planning, and the original owners were paid compensation.
