Bhojshala mosque caretaker claims Kamal Maula lineage; files plea in Madhya Pradesh high court

INDORE: The long-standing dispute over the Bhojshala-Kamal Maula Mosque in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, took a fresh legal turn on Monday when Qazi Moinuddin, claiming to be a direct descendant of Kamal Maulana Chisti, filed an intervention application in the ongoing dispute before the Indore bench of the MP high court.The division bench, comprising Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla and Justice Alok Awasthi, gave the intervener the right to an audience and listed the matter for argument on April 2, along with a bunch of other intervention applications (IA).Qazi Moinuddin filed the intervention in the petition by the Hindu Front for Justice. He said he was a resident of Dargah, Kamal Maula, Dhar, and the son of the late Qazi Faizuddin.He described himself as a direct descendant of Hazarat Kamal Maulana Chishti, who established the Kamal Maula Masjid in 1305-1307 AD, and claimed that he presently held the position of Mutawalli, the hereditary custodian, of the Waqf associated with the mosque.

Moinuddin claimed that the mosque, referred to as a Jama Masjid, was the site of Friday Namaz for centuries, and that a Waqf was created over the property to preserve its sanctity for religious purposes. He submitted revenue records dating back to 1926-28 to support his position.Moinuddin contended that, as Mutawalli residing on the adjacent Waqf property, any order passed in the petition directly affected his statutory duties under the Waqf Act, 1995, making him a necessary party.

Hindu Front for Justice counsel Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain objected to the application, saying that the applicant did not have any locus standi and that the said monument was not a Waqf property. He said all stakeholders concerned, including Malauna Kamaluddin Welfare Society, were made respondents in the petition.The court said the arguments could be heard on April 2, when the IA was listed for hearing.