Kawardha Waqf mosque dispute: Court sets two-month deadline

Raipur: Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad passed the order on June 25 while disposing of a writ petition filed by Mohd Ajmal Khan, a resident of Kawardha in Kabirdham district. The petitioner challenged the construction being carried out by Hanif Khan, the mutawalli of the Jama Masjid Muslim Trust, over a 350-square-metre commercial plot near the mosque premises.The petitioner stated that the chief executive officer of the Chhattisgarh State Waqf Board issued a recommendation to the Kabirdham district collector on March 18, directing an immediate halt to the construction. The local administration failed to take effective steps to stop the work. The petitioner approached the Chhattisgarh Waqf Tribunal in Raipur in January 2026, but the application could not be heard due to the non-availability of a requisite quorum of members at the time.The state counsel submitted that the Waqf Tribunal is now fully functional with all three members. The state argued that since a statutory alternative remedy exists and the matter is already pending before the competent tribunal, the petitioner must pursue the case there instead of invoking the extraordinary jurisdiction of the high court.Raipur: The Chhattisgarh High Court has directed the state Waqf Tribunal to decide within two months a pending dispute over alleged unauthorised construction on a Waqf property in Kawardha, declining to examine the case on merits.

Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad passed the order on June 25 while disposing of a writ petition filed by Mohd Ajmal Khan, a resident of Kawardha in Kabirdham district.Khan challenged construction being carried out by Hanif Khan, the mutawalli of the Jama Masjid Muslim Trust, on a 350-square-metre commercial plot near the mosque premises. He said the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Chhattisgarh State Waqf Board already recommended to the Kabirdham district collector on March 18 that the work be stopped immediately, but the local administration did not take effective action.The petitioner approached the Chhattisgarh Waqf Tribunal in Raipur in Jan 2026, but the matter could not be heard then because the required quorum of members was not available. The state counsel told the court that the tribunal is now fully functional with all three members and argued that the petitioner should pursue the statutory remedy there.Justice Prasad directed the tribunal to consider and decide the proceedings strictly in accordance with law within two months of receiving a certified copy of the order. The court clarified that it expressed no opinion on the merits of the rival claims.