Delhi HC on statue installation at Shahi Idgah Park: ‘Order requires no clarification’

Last September, the single judge bench, relying on Delhi Waqf Board’s submissions, had held that the area inside the Idgah boundary – comprising parks and open grounds – belongs to the DDA

2 min readNew DelhiMar 1, 2025 05:25 AM IST

“You are asking us to interpret our order. Take recourse to appropriate legal remedy challenging the notice,” the bench orally remarked (Archives)

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a plea filed by the managing committee of Shahi Idgah, seeking clarification of the court’s order pertaining to the installation of a statue of Rani Laxmi Bai in the precincts of the Waqf property in the Capital.

In the plea, the committee has said that it moved court after the DDA, relying on a single judge HC bench judgment, claimed ownership over the land of Idgah Park, where the mosque is located, and demanded Rs 12 lakh as fee from the committee to organise Ijtema, an annual religious congregation. The DDA served a notice to the committee in this regard on February 11, the plea added.

Last September, the single judge bench, relying on Delhi Waqf Board’s submissions, had held that the area inside the Idgah boundary – comprising parks and open grounds – belongs to the DDA and that the committee’s claim that the entire property within the Idgah walls belongs to Shahi Idgah “cannot be sustained in law”.

The committee has argued that the single judge’s finding was beyond the purview of the earlier round of litigation where the committee was opposing the installation of the Rani Laxmi Bai’s statue in the Idgah park, and that the issue was not seriously adjudicated.

It added that such adjudication would be in the purview of the Waqf Tribunal. The single judge’s order was subsequently appealed against before a division bench, where the latter upheld the single judge’s order.

On Friday, a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela ruled that the division bench’s order “does not require any clarification”. “You are asking us to interpret our order. Take recourse to appropriate legal remedy challenging the notice,” the bench orally remarked to the committee’s counsel, adding that a challenge to the DDA notice would allow the petitioner to canvas all grounds.

Sohini Ghosh

Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More

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