Delhi High Court imposes ₹10k costs on litigant over plea to remove Delhi Waqf Board administrator

The Delhi High Court recently dismissed a plea challenging the appointment of Ashwani Kumar as the Administrator of the Delhi Waqf Board, while imposing ₹10,000 as costs on the petitioner..A Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad found that the petition was clearly an abuse of the legal process."This Writ Petition is nothing but an abuse of the process of law and is a publicity-oriented litigation ... This Writ Petition is an absolute abuse of the process of law without giving any valid reasons as to why the appointment of Respondent No.2 as an Administrator of the Delhi Waqf Board should be quashed. This Court is not inclined to entertain the present writ petition and is inclined to dismiss the writ petition imposing costs of Rs.10,000/- on the Petitioner to be deposited with the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund within four weeks from today," the Court ordered on May 24..The petition was filed by one Yamin Ali, a resident of Mehrauli, Delhi who was aggrieved by certain actions taken by the Administrator of the Delhi Waqf Board.Ali contended that his mother is buried in the graveyard adjacent to the historic Akhoundji Mosque, a property he claimed is classified as a Waqf property.He argued that a portion of the mosque was demolished under the authority of the Administrator, who should have protected it as the custodian of the Delhi Waqf Board. .Notably, another petition filed by Ali with similar allegations had earlier been withdrawn from the High Court on March 4, 2024, since there was an alternate remedy before the Waqf Tribunal.On May 24, the High Court criticised Ali for re-agitating the matter by seeking the removal of the Waqf Board Administrator..The Court concluded that the latest plea constituted publicity-oriented litigation and that there was no reason to quash the Administrator's appointment..The Court also noted that the petitioner had attempted to give a communal flavour to the Administrator's actions.It went on to dismiss Ali's petition after observing that there was no reason given as to why Ashwani Kumar was unqualified to hold the post of Administrator in the Waqf Board. "Other than stating that the actions of Respondent No.2 (Ashwani Kumar) are bad, no reason has been given by the Petitioner why Respondent No.2 lacks in qualification to be appointed as an Administrator of the Waqf Board. The Petitioner has attempted to give a communal flavour to the actions of Respondent No.2," the Court observed..Advocate Shams Khwaja appeared for the petitioner, Yamin Ali.Additional Standing Counsel Mehak Nakra and advocate Aditi Kapoor represented the Delhi government and the Delhi Waqf Board Administrator.Advocates Santosh Kumar, Shobhana Takiar, Sanjay Katyal, Razia, Kuljeet Singh, Yoginder Handoo and Ashwin Kataria appeared for other respondents..[Read Order]