The Union government has told the Delhi High Court that Qadeemi Masjid, located within the Agricultural Bhawan complex in central Delhi, cannot be retained at its present site because the land is required for two new Common Central Secretariat buildings under the Central Vista redevelopment plan.
The government made the submission through the Land and Development Office (L&DO) in a status report filed in response to a notice from the High Court. The report was submitted after a petition by the committee that oversees the mosque at Agricultural Bhawan.
According to the government, the mosque stands on Plot No. 120 on Dr Rajendra Prasad Road, land under the administrative control of the Union government. It said the mosque had been built on government land and that the committee was allowed to remain there under an agreement made in 1940. The government’s position is that the agreement granted only permission-based possession and did not confer ownership rights over the land on the committee.
The status report described the Central Vista redevelopment master plan as a public project of “extreme national importance”. It said the mosque remains within the project site and must be removed to enable the planned construction work. The government’s submission is a position placed before the High Court; the material supplied for this report does not indicate that the court has issued a final order on the mosque’s removal.
The redevelopment plan involves demolishing the existing Shastri Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan buildings and constructing new Common Central Secretariat facilities in their place. The planned buildings, identified as Kartyavya Bhawan-4 and Kartyavya Bhawan-5, are to come up on Plot No. 120 at Dr Rajendra Prasad Road.
The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) had earlier stated in a letter issued on 16 September that the construction contract for Kartyavya Bhawan-4 and Kartyavya Bhawan-5 had already been awarded. The two buildings are planned on the sites currently occupied by Shastri Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan.
The government had also asked the occupants of the two existing buildings to vacate them by 30 September in view of the proposed redevelopment. The status report links the requirement to remove the mosque directly to the project site and the need to proceed with construction of the new Secretariat buildings.
The case places a government-controlled parcel, a long-standing place of worship and a major administrative redevelopment project within the same legal process. The next steps will depend on the Delhi High Court’s consideration of the committee’s petition and the Union government’s response.
