HAROON AHMED Vs. DELHI WAQF BOARD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WP (C) No. 7542/2021, C.M. Appl. No. 23642/2021 (by the petitioner u/S 151 CPC for interim relief)

(2.) Mr. Rukhsar Ahmed, learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the petitioner s uncle had been the tenant in the Waqf Property being Shop No.649, Waqf Haji Abdul Qayyum, Hamilton Road, Kashmiri Gate, Delhi 110006 since before 1970. He passed away in the year 2003 whereafter the petitioner remained in possession of the said shop and had himself continued paying the rent till the year 2016, when the Rent Collector of the respondent/Delhi Waqf Board stopped coming to the premises to collect rent from him. It is also submitted that he had also approached the respondent/Delhi Waqf Board to treat him as a tenant and had expressed his willingness to pay all the arrears of the rent. In fact, he had transferred the arrears of rent through IMPS.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner further submitted that under Section 54 of the Waqf Act, 1995, if the respondent/Delhi Waqf Board had desired to evict the tenant/petitioner, describing him as an encroacher, it had to approach the Tribunal. Instead, without following due process, the respondent/Delhi Waqf Board sealed the premises i.e., the shop in question on 8th July 2021. Further, it had affixed a Public Notice at the premises, including the shop in the list of properties available for bidding, to induct fresh tenants.