Prayagraj, March 29 The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file an affidavit stating whether it can seal a place of worship without any prior notice or without providing any opportunity for the property owners to be heard.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Atul Sreedharan and Justice Siddharth Nandan sought the government's response to a writ petition filed by Ahsan Ali, who had approached the court against the sealing of a mosque in Muzaffarnagar.
"Whether there exists any legal authority to seal a place of worship under construction without issuing prior notice or providing an opportunity for the petitioner to be heard," the court asked in its order passed on March 18.
In addition, the court also asked whether prior permission from the state is required when plot owners make constructions, etc., within the premises of the place of worship.
Before the high court, Ahsan Ali submitted that he is a lawful owner of a plot of land. He had purchased the land from Praveen Kumar Jain in 2019 through a duly registered sale deed.
Authorities recently sealed the mosque constructed on the land after the owners had started erecting a boundary around it. The action was taken on the grounds that the construction was illegal and that no prior permission was obtained from the competent authority.
During the court proceedings, the petitioner's counsel stated that no notice or opportunity for hearing was provided to him prior to the sealing of the premises.
The court then directed the state to respond to the petition and inform it about the law under which the action was taken.