Hyderabad: The Supreme court of India on August 24 will be hearing a petition seeking directions to rebuild the places of worship that were demolished during the demolition of Old secretariat building.
A city based lawyer Khaja Aijazuddin has filed a writ petition before the Apex court and pleaded to pass orders directing the Government of Telangana to rebuild three places of worship including two Mosques and a Temple.
The matter has been listed on Monday and will be heard by a bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice R Subash Reddy.
The Union Ministry for Minority affairs, Chief Secretary Telangana, Chairman Telangana State Wakf Board and State Endowment department have been made respondents in the writ petition.
He pleaded the court to pass executive order or Resolution in the State Assembly of Telangana State or Parliament of India by giving Commitment for rebuilding the Places of worship within the Secretariat complex building of Telangana State, only or at the same Places where they stood
The Lawyer in his petition contended that there were three religious places which had existed since a long time within the vicinity of the Secretariat Building complex at Hyderabad in Telangana State.
The Secretariat Complex is spread upon 25 Acres and it houses the offices of the Chief Minister of Telangana, Council of Ministers and Bureaucrats. He contended that within the Secretariat Complex existed Temple namely Nalla Pochamma Temple which is situated at in one of the Block A Block, and Two Mosques namely Masjid Dafatir-e-Muttamadi located adjacent to the C Block and Masjid-e-Hashmi Located near the ‘D’ Block.
The said Temple and the two mosques are part and parcel within the Secretariat Building Complex and there is no dispute as far as the existence of the religious places.
Immediately after the demolition of the religious structures, the Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao addressed the press conference and has clearly stated in the press that “I am Sorry”, KCR on damage to places of worship during secretariat demolition”. The Chief Minister of Telangana have just merely apologized for the demolition of the religious structures but never assured the citizens by committing to rebuilt the religious places which was demolished
The demolition of places of worship on 17 July onwards by the Government of Telangana has resulted in the chaos and hurting the sentiments of the people.
“The demolition of the religious places is highly unwarranted, illegal and unconstitutional, I have approached the court seeking directions to the concerned.
The Lawyer informed the court that it is a settled Principle of Law once the religious structure existed its remains forever as the same is enshrined under Article 26 of the Constitution of India. The matter is likely to come up for hearing this week.