The Supreme Court on Friday (31st January) dismissed an application seeking permission to conduct Urs between February 1-3 at a Dargah situated at the Gir Somnath demolition site in Gujarat. The present application filed by Haji Mangroli Shah Dargah was an interlocutory application filed in a contempt case against the state authorities accusing them of demolishing the Dargah without prior notice.
The interlocutory application was dismissed by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and AG Masih. The bench said that the prayer could not be granted without hearing the main matter. Senior Advocate H Syed, appearing for the Dargah contented that the Dargah was a protected monument and that the Urs festival has been taking place there for several years. He said that the state authorities denied permission for Urs saying that no Dargah existed at the site.
The state authorities, represented by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, argued that the demolition was not carried out due to religious discrimination. Mehta said that the demolished structures at the site included temples and other structures. He added that the disputed land is government land and therefore unauthorised constructions were removed from it. He referred to an affidavit filed by the Department of Archaeology denying the existence of any protected monument at the site. He said that a survey conducted in 2023 revealed that there was no archaeological structure at the site.
