Panchkula, July 27 — Despite Supreme Court directives and contempt warnings from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the demolition of three major illegal religious structures in Panchkula has hit a legal roadblock, with caretakers moving court to challenge eviction notices.
The Panchkula Metropolitan Development Authority (PMDA) had on July 8 issued show-cause notices to the caretakers of Nau Gaza Peer dargah (Sector 5/7), Sultan Mohammad Khan dargah (Sector 3), and Jahar Veer Goga Ji temple (Sector 21), directing them to vacate nearly 30 marlas of encroached green belt land. Two of the shrines lie close to the Zirakpur-Kalka highway.
In response, the caretakers have sought legal protection. Firoz Khan, caretaker of Nau Gaza Peer, has filed a civil suit under the Specific Relief Act, asserting the shrine has existed on its 6-marla plot for over 200 years. He has submitted electricity bills and land documents to support his claim and requested a stay on the demolition. The court, while not granting interim relief on July 16, has sought replies from state authorities by October 24.
Caretakers of the other two shrines have moved the high court, where the next hearing is scheduled for July 28. Their petitions contend that Haryana had framed a policy in 2010 to regularise religious structures established before 2009, but the policy was neither publicised nor implemented fairly. The petitioners claim their applications for regularisation, pending with the estate office and PMDA, must be considered before any demolition.
Advocate Karundeep Chaudhary, representing the Sultan Mohammad Khan dargah, pointed out that a 1996 eviction order issued by the then NHAI estate officer had been quashed by a division bench in 1998, which directed a fresh hearing for the dargah.
Authorities, however, maintain that the demolitions are in compliance with court orders to remove unauthorised religious structures on public land. Most minor encroachments have already been cleared, they said, leaving only these three prominent cases.
The states of Haryana, Punjab, and UT Chandigarh are expected to submit their replies in the ongoing high court case concerning action on illegal religious structures.
