The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a stay on the demolition notice served by the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) concerning an alleged illegal structure at Hazrat Satpeer Sayed Baba Dargah, situated in the Kathe Galli area of Nashik. The top court also directed the Registrar General of the Bombay High Court to clarify whether the Dargah Trust’s plea challenging the notice had been deliberately withheld from being listed and heard, reported the Indian Express.
The Dargah Trust had initially approached the Bombay High Court on April 7, filing a writ petition to quash the NMC’s April 1 notice, which demanded demolition of the structure within 15 days. The Trust expressed concern that non-compliance would result in the structure being razed on April 15.
Tensions escalated on Tuesday night when a crowd clashed with police as NMC officials began the demolition process.
On Wednesday, a bench comprising Justices P S Narsimha and Joymalya Bagchi heard senior advocate Navin Pahwa, representing the Trust. He argued that the structure is a decades-old religious site and highlighted the urgency, noting that the petition filed on April 7 had yet to be listed for hearing. A praecipe (urgent request) was submitted on April 8, seeking interim relief on April 9, but no listing was permitted.
“We are unable to understand what transpired from April 9 till today,” the Supreme Court observed while issuing the stay. The hearing for the Trust’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) has been scheduled for April 21.
The apex court remarked that it was taking this “extraordinary measure” due to the senior counsel’s specific statement that efforts were made daily to get the matter listed. It added, “We are unsure of the statement made and that the High Court would not have listed the case despite repeated requests. This is a serious statement and the learned counsel shall take and feel responsibility of the consequence of such a statement.”
The Court has asked the Bombay High Court Registry to submit a report on the listing status of the Dargah’s plea.
