Landmark Judgement
By A Staff Writer
Bangalore: Karnataka High Court in a landmark judgement held the construction of 112 shops perfectly legal on a wakf property in Sira, a town 120 kms north of Bangalore in Tumkur district. The Division Bench of the High Court headed by chief justice Mr. D. H. Waghela and Justice S. N. Sathyanarayana ordered the Mr. Kantharaj who had pleaded that the construction was illegal, to pay Rs. 10,000 towards penalty. Kanatharaj who heads the Sira Town Development and Revolution Forum had moved the High Court pleading that the construction of 112 shops on the land belonging to Jamia Masjid Sira, an institution under Wakf Board, was illegal and unauthorized.
The court order allowed the opening of the wakf complex and said the Jamia Masjid had followed the required procedure and secured the necessary permits from the civic authorities and were on perfectly legal ground to construct the shops and the petitioner had personal and communal intent while approaching the court. It said the petitioner had moved the court by filing false information and ordered him to pay Rs. 10,000 within 15 days, a sum to be equally divided between Jamia Masjid and the Deputy Commissioner, Tumkur District. The Court said the communal intent was plainly evident as the petitioner had moved only in the case of Jamia Masjid although the nearby Durgamma Temple and Gavi Anjaneyaswamy Temple too had constructed shopping complexes following the similar civic permits.
The Forum had been stoking communal passions in the town on the issue of the opening of the wakf shopping complex which had resulted in communal tension onSeptember 29 resulting in serious disruption of public life for a week.
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