SL.

No

Date

Office Notes,

reports, orders

or proceedings

or directions

and Registrar’s

order with

Signatures

COURT’S OR JUDGES’S ORDERS

16.06.2023

WPMB No. 125 of 2023

Hon’ble Vipin Sanghi, C.J.

Hon’ble Rakesh Thapliyal, J.

1.

Mr. Tapan Singh, learned counsel for the

petitioner.

2.

Mr. S.S. Chauhan, learned Deputy Advocate

General for the State of Uttarakhand/ respondent nos.

1 and 2.

3.

Mr. I.D. Paliwal, learned Standing Counsel for the

State of U.P.

4.

The petitioner has preferred the present Writ

Petition to assail the notice dated 08.06.2023, issued

by respondent no. 3, i.e. the Assistant Engineer III^rd

North Division, Gangnahar, Roorkee, District-Haridwar,

whereby notice has been given to the petitioner to

remove the unauthorized structure erected on the land

belonging to the Irrigation Department in Khasra No.

284, since the same is situated on public property, and

is causing obstruction to the public, due to which the

general public is facing difficulty in movement.

Reference has been made to the order dated

04.07.2018 passed by the Supreme Court in Special

Leave Petition (Civil) Diary No. 24083/2018, and to the

order passed by this Court in Writ Petition (PIL) No. 47

of 2013 dated 18.06.2018.

5.

The case of the petitioner is that the Dargah

Mardan Gaib Ali Sahab @ Peer Gayab Sahab Dargah

was established about 750 years ago. It has been

renovated thereafter, from time to time. The petitioner

claims that there have been partitions between the

Sewadars of the said Dargah for collection of the

offerings over the years.

6.

Pertinently, the petitioner has, cleverly, not filed

even a single photograph before us to show the nature

of the structure, which is claimed to be 750 years old.

A structure, which is claimed to be 750 years old,

would clearly show its age from the architecture and

the materials used in construction, and any such

structure

would

be

under

the

gaze

of

the

Archaeological Survey of India. The aforesaid claim

made by the petitioner is clearly belied by the

document placed by the petitioner on record, which is

the report of the Tehsildar dated 16.10.2002, which

records that the said Dargah is situated on land

belonging to the Irrigation Department in Khasra No.

284. There would be no question of a 750 years old

structure being allotted to the Irrigation Department

for its purposes.

7.

Counsel for the petitioner has next sought to

refer to the Uttarakhand Policy for Removal, Relocation

and Regularization of Unauthorized Religious Structures

on Public Streets, Public Parks and other Public Places,

2016.

8.

We have perused the said policy, and it does not

vest any vested right in any person, in unauthorized

occupation of government property, to claim, as a

matter of right, a right of relocation.

9.

It is high time that the State enforces the Rule of

Law by coming down heavily on all unauthorized illegal

structures, raised on public land, cutting across all

religions and faiths. In our view, it is absolutely

essential to restore the faith of the people in the Rule

of Law - that some order is restored in this regard. It

should not be possible for any person to occupy

government property, raise such religious structures

thereon,

and,

under

that

garb,

to

divest

the

Government of its property.

10.

We do not find any merit in this Writ Petition.

The same is, accordingly, dismissed.

11.

Consequently, pending application(s), if any, also

stand disposed of, accordingly.

(Rakesh Thapliyal, J.) (Vipin Sanghi, C.J.)

16.06.2023

16.06.2023

Rahul