By IANS,
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday allowed the Muslim community to hold mass prayers twice a year in the Idgah Maidan in Hubli in Karnataka, but ruled out allowing the construction of any structure there by the community.
A bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Mukundkam Sharma gave the ruling, upholding the June 1992 verdict of the Karnataka High Court.
The high court, upholding the lower court’s ruling, had said the Idgah Maidan was not the exclusive property of the Anjuman-e-Islam but belonged to what was by then the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation.
Rebutting the claims of the Anjuman-e-Islam, a Muslim religious body, the high court had said that the Maidan was not leased to it but it was merely given the licence to use the field for twice a year for religious purposes – offer prayers on Bakr-id and the Ramzaan.
The high court, in its verdict delivered Jun 8, 1992, had also ordered demolition of a permanent structure, erected by the Anjuman, within 45 days.
In its appeal against the high court ruling before the apex court, the Anjuman-e-Islam had contended that the field had been given to it on a 99-year-long lease in 1930 by the former British government and it was free to use it in the manner it deemed fit.
The Supreme Court gave the ruling on an appeal by the Anjuman-e-Islam against the high court ruling.