By IANS
New Delhi : Counsels appearing before the Delhi High Court in a matter pertaining to alleged corruption charges against the management of the shrine of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer had a fight before the judges Wednesday, casting aspersions on each other.
The bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur asked them to go to the canteen to have coffee together to cool down and adjourned the hearing.
One of the lawyers had alleged that the petition was filed to harass the dargah management after accepting bribe from certain sources.
The court had earlier directed the shrine administrator to be present before it on Sep 26 to reply to the charges of corruption and mismanagement made by a committee in its report.
Counsel Usha Kumar appearing for the administrator, a government official from the minority affairs ministry, refuted the charges.
During the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Hum Aap Ke, the court had observed, “The report alleged large-scale corruption by the committee and the administrator needed to explain them.”
After the ministry received a number of complaints about irregularities at the shrine and the NGO filed the PIL in the court, a seven-member committee conducted an inquiry, examining documents and questioning people in Ajmer in February 2007.
Headed by Ghayur-e-Alam with Firoz Bakht Ahmed as convenor, the committee called for the immediate dismissal of the present management.
The committee members were not happy with the upkeep of the historic shrine that attracts a large number of pilgrims from India and abroad.
“The very first impression is that of dingy lanes, haphazard shops, harrying beggars and unhygienic conditions,” the committee noted in its lengthy report.
But the investigation brought to light more sordid aspects of the dargah management with money being spent without maintaining proper records, misuse of facilities and encroachment of the premises by unauthorised people.
The committee deplored that “no proper system existed for vouchers or papers to sanction money to the dargah committee members by the Naib Nazim (administrator)”.
Going through the records of this senior official, the committee found that “all these years he has been issuing money to various members of the dargah committee in a manner most unprofessional”.