TNR News Network
Shimla: The long-running and controversial Sanjauli mosque case in Himachal Pradesh capital Shimla has reached the Himachal Pradesh High Court, with the Waqf Board challenging the recent demolition orders issued by the district court. The petition will come up for hearing before a Division Bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ramesh Verma.
The dispute has been simmering for years, but it intensified after the district court’s landmark ruling on October 30. Upholding the Shimla Municipal Corporation Commissioner’s order, the court declared the lower two floors of the Sanjauli mosque building illegal and directed that they be demolished. Dismissing petitions filed by the Waqf Board and the mosque committee, the court observed that the entire structure stood on government land without any valid approval.
In a partial modification of the Commissioner Court’s order, the district court instructed the Waqf Board and the mosque committee to raze the two floors within two months. It added that failure to comply within the stipulated time would empower the Municipal Corporation to carry out the demolition and recover the full cost from the respondents. The Waqf Board has now approached the High Court seeking relief from this directive.
Chronology of the case
On May 3 this year, the Municipal Commissioner’s court had ruled the entire mosque structure illegal and ordered its demolition. The Waqf Board and the mosque committee challenged this before the sessions court. During the hearings, the Municipal Corporation informed the court that the old mosque building had been torn down and replaced with a four-storey structure without any permissions or sanctioned plans.
The Commissioner Court subsequently passed an order on October 5, 2024, directing removal of the unauthorised construction. Following this, the third and fourth floors of the building were demolished. The application seeking regularisation of the lower two floors was rejected by the corporation on May 3, 2025.
The district court also noted that neither the Waqf Board nor the mosque committee had challenged the October 5 order. An earlier appeal filed by Najakat Hashmi Ali had already been dismissed by the Additional District Judge on November 30, 2024. The court found the Commissioner’s findings fact-based and held both the Waqf Board and the mosque committee jointly responsible, since the property falls under the Waqf Board’s jurisdiction and construction was carried out by the committee.
This ruling effectively dismissed both appeals filed against the Municipal Commissioner’s May 3, 2025, decision.
Two floors already demolished in five-storey structure
Initially, the Commissioner Court had ordered demolition of the top three floors. The mosque committee voluntarily razed two of them, leaving one incomplete. Later, the Commissioner Court deemed the remaining lower two floors illegal as well, prompting further legal action.
Violence brought the issue back into focus
Though the case had been pending before the Municipal Commissioner Court for nearly 16 years, with more than 50 hearings, it gained renewed prominence after a clash between two groups in Mehli on August 31, 2024. The incident triggered a chain of protests: Hindu groups demonstrated in Shimla on September 5, followed by an intense agitation in the Sanjauli-Dhalli area on September 11.
Amid mounting tensions, the mosque committee approached the Commissioner Court on September 12, offering to demolish the unauthorised parts themselves. However, the Commissioner Court had already delivered its final order on May 3, and the district court has since reaffirmed that decision.
With the matter now before the High Court, all eyes are on today’s hearing, which could determine the next phase of the long-running dispute.
