Wakes up after 150 years and comes to court with no basis: ASI on applicant claiming ownership of Qutub Minar

A Delhi court on Wednesday deferred the hearing of a plea seeking restoration of Hindu and Jain temples at the Qutub Minar complex in the capital to September 13..Civil Judge Dinesh Kumar of the Saket Courts said that the shortest date would be given after noting that the counsel for an intervenor sought more time."Written synopsis have also been filed in behalf of the appellants and respondent 1,2,3 in relation to he appeal. Last opportunity to the applicant to argue on the application," the judge ordered..Meanwhile, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) made its stand clear before the court, arguing:1. The applicant has not claimed specifically any right in the appeal. He has no locus standi because the application has not specifically claimed right in the appeal. 2. He claims rights for large and vast areas in several states and was sitting idle on it for the last 150 years without raising issue before any court. He wakes up some morning and comes to this Court as an impleader without any basis. 3. On account of his absence of filing his reply or taking a stand on this issue in the last 150 years, the issue itself is liable to be dismissed because it is beyond the period of limitation several times over. 4. A similar case came before Delhi High Court where one Sultana Begum claiming to be the wife of great grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar said that she was in possession of Red fort as she is inherited that...the Court dismissed the petition solely on the ground of delay without going into merits. The facts of the two cases are similar. Here he is not even claiming title or possession. 5. The applicant was not a party to the original suit and this is an appeal...since he was not in the original suit, he has no locus standi to come here and implead himself as one of the parties..On June 9, Judge Kumar deferred the order on the plea noting that a new application has been filed by a Delhi resident claiming ownership of the property where the Minar is located.The intervenor, Kunwar Mahendra Dhwaj Prasad Singh, through his counsel claimed ownership of the Qutub Minar, as a result of which the minaret along with Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque inside the complex mosque should be given to him.The Court asked the ASI as well as contesting parties to file a reply to this application and posted the case for hearing today..The suit before Judge Kumar challenges an order passed in December 2021 by civil judge Neha Sharma, who had dismissed a suit seeking restoration of 27 Hindu and Jain Temples in Delhi's Qutub Minar complex.The order had held that past wrongs cannot be the basis for disturbing peace of our present and future.It had held that ancient and historical monuments cannot be used for a purpose which runs counter to their nature as religious places of worship, but can always be used for some other purpose which is not inconsistent with their religious character.Once a monument has been declared to be a protected monument and is owned by the government, the plaintiffs cannot insist that the place of worship must actually and actively be used for religious services, the order passed in December 2021 had stated..The suit filed on behalf of deities Lord Vishnu and Lord Rishabh Dev through their next friend Advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Ranjana Agnihotri sought restoration of deities within the complex and the right to do puja and darshan of the deities.It was alleged that the Mosque, which was declared a protected monument under Section 3 of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, was built after destruction of the temples.The ASI, in an affidavit filed earlier, informed the Court that architectural members and images of Hindu and Jain deities were reused for the construction of the Qutub Minar complex.While conceding that architectural members and images of Hindu and Jain deities were reused for the construction of the Qutub Minar complex, ASI contended that the same cannot be a ground to claim right to worship over monuments protected under the Ancient Monument and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 (AMASR Act)..Hindu sculptures exist inside Qutub Minar complex but nobody can claim right to worship in protected monuments: ASI to Delhi court