Unauthorised Extension

By Nivedita Khandekar, *Illegal portions of 754-yr-old dargah razed* - Hindustan Times - India; Wednesday, December 8, 2010

An unauthorised portion of the Dargah Baddrudin Samarqandi on the southwest side of Feroz Shah Kotla fort within the Acharya Narendra Dev Garden was demolished on Tuesday, following a Delhi High Court order.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) along with the officials of the dargah jointly carried out the demolition.

The Feroz Shah Kotla fort, or Firozabad as it was then known, is one of Delhi’s seven historic cities. The fort and the adjoining dargah are frequented by sufi believers, specially on Thursdays.

Peer Sayyad Mairajuddin had filed a case in 2008 against the Delhi Wakf Board and other persons, claiming that the dargah had carried out unauthorised extension even though it is right next to the 14th-century fort which is under ASI protection.

While appearing in the court, the ASI officials said that they had sent notices for the removal of unauthorised construction in October 2002 and March 2003.

“It, however, appears that no follow-up action was taken by the ASI to send reminders to the law and enforcement agencies requesting their cooperation,” said justice S Muralidhar while directing the ASI to initiate steps to remove the unauthorised construction.

Syed Mohammed Iqbal, in-charge at the dargah, said, “This dargah is 754 years old. The petitioner wanted to bury his mother here, which we do not allow. Now, he produced some 1985 photographs, which did not have these extensions, to the court. So we have joined hands with the ASI to pull this down.”

The High Court has also given four weeks to the ASI to file a status report.

[Picture: West Gate of Firozabad, now destroyed. 1802 Photo: Wiki.]