A small mosque in New Delhi’s Race Course area, close to the Prime Minister’s official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, has become the centre of a legal and political dispute after the Centre’s Land and Development Office (L&DO) moved to clear the site. The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said on Tuesday that it would challenge the eviction in the Delhi High Court.
What the mosque’s caretakers say
The mosque’s imam, Mohammed Harun, who has been associated with it for about four decades, said the premises had been asked to vacate within six days. He alleged that electricity and water connections were cut from October 7, the gates were closed and a board declaring the land to be Government of India property was put up at the entrance, with police deployed outside. He told a news channel that officials had conveyed the decision orally and that he had not received a written demolition notice.
According to the imam, the records show about two bighas of land covering the mosque, a well and a graveyard. He said 300 to 400 people attend Friday prayers, and that he had approached the Delhi Waqf Board repeatedly over six months without effective help.
The government’s position
The L&DO has described the mosque premises as unauthorised and maintains that the land belongs to the government, according to reports. The action is not limited to the mosque: it is part of a wider clearance drive in the area that also covers a nearby slum settlement. The Delhi High Court has allowed authorities to evict around 700 families from that settlement and move them to the Savda Ghevra resettlement colony, about 45 km away, with facilities for schooling, transport and sanitation. A six-week grace period set by the court to vacate the area ended on October 6.
Heritage listing and Waqf status
The mosque’s supporters cite an entry titled “Mosque and Campus, Race Course” on the New Delhi Municipal Council’s notified heritage list, and its listing in the 1977 Delhi Gazette as a Waqf property. These claims have not been independently tested in court so far.
On Monday, a Jamiat delegation met Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and asked for power and water to be restored, worshippers to be allowed in, and the mosque and an adjoining graveyard to be protected. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi also sought Rijiju’s intervention, questioning why the Delhi Waqf Board, which has had no constituted board since 2023, did not challenge the order. AAP leader Amanatullah Khan, a former chairman of the board, said the mosque predates Independence.
If even a legally recognised mosque cannot be protected, what safeguards remain for others?
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir’s chief cleric
What happens next
The Jamiat said an earlier petition was rejected because the petitioner was not considered the right party. This time, AIMIM’s Delhi unit chief Shoaib Jamai is expected to file on behalf of the mosque committee. At the heart of the dispute is the ownership of the land, set against the mosque’s Waqf gazette entry and its place on the NDMC heritage list.
