The Gujarat government has protested before the High Court against the order to maintain status quo on action on religious structures in Dwarka. The government argued that these structures were used for smuggling of narcotics and explosives. The state government said there have been bomb blasts in the area and some shrines have been found using explosives storage.
During the hearing of the case on January 20, government lawyer GH Virk, appearing for the state government, presented arguments before Justice Mouna M Bhatt. The lawyer said the state has removed all encroachments except the structure. This is under the status quo order of the court. He argued that the writ petition was nothing but a way to deceive the court.
Live Law’s According to the reporthe argued that the structures that are being put in place are being used for drug trafficking, explosives smuggling. He said there have been bomb blasts in the area and mujahids (deen-fighting Muslims) of some dargahs have been found using them for storing explosives.
On this, the court said that the petitioner has claimed that the property in question is Waqf property. At the same time, the state government claims that this land is Gauchar land (pasture land). Responding to the court’s questions, lawyer Virk said that the Public Trust Register shows that the property in question is not Waqf property.
He also said that in one petition it is gauchar bhoomi (pasture land) and in the other petition it is a cemetery. He questioned how anyone could build a huge grand structure on a cemetery. He gave information about the satellite images kept on record through the Intelligence Bureau and talked about drug smuggling in such complexes constructed from all sides.
This court questioned that cemeteries are generally Waqf property. Responding to this, lawyer Virk said that this is all government land, which is mentioned in the revenue documents and the government had allotted this land for the purpose of cemetery. Virk said that out of three cases, revenue survey number has been given in two cases.
Let us tell you that 7 islands of Shri Krishna’s city Dwarka in Gujarat have been freed from encroachment. 36 illegally constructed structures have been demolished here. The state government has taken this action swiftly. State Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghvi has told on January 21, 2025 that the islands of Dwarka are now 100 percent free from encroachment.
He also shared videos from there on social media site X (formerly Twitter). In these videos, some structures like Dargah are seen standing earlier, which were later razed to the ground. These structures were built on 7 different islands. These encroached structures had occupied a large part of the land. In other areas of Dwarka too, hundreds of structures have been demolished while taking action against encroachment.
