Supreme Court Stays Demolition Of Kinara Mosque Near Haji Ali Dargah Until Maharashtra Decides On Regularisation
The Court directed the State to decide the Trust’s plea preferably within six months.
Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Justice R. Mahadevan, Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has directed that no steps be taken to demolish the Kinara Mosque, or to encroach upon it, until the Maharashtra Government decides the Trust’s application seeking its regularisation.
It passed the order on an application filed by the Haji Ali Dargah Trust, after having disposed of its Special Leave Petition on September 17, 2026.
That petition challenged a Bombay High Court direction to set up a Joint Task Force of the Municipal Corporation and the Collector, assisted by the police, to clear around 908 square meters of unauthorized encroachments along the approach road to the Haji Ali Dargah.
The Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice R Mahadevan ordered, "Having regard to paragraph 5 of the order dated 14.07.2017 and the directions issued by us in our final order dated 17.09.2026, we further direct that until the State Government takes a decision on the application seeking regularisation of the Kinara Mosque, no steps shall be initiated for its demolition or encroachment thereon."
Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran appeared for the Petitioner, while Advocate Ashish Wad appeared for the Respondents
A petition was filed impugning the order passed by the Bombay High Court by which it had directed the creation of a Joint Task Force comprising the Municipal Corporation and the Collector, assisted by the jurisdictional police, to remove unauthorized encroachments measuring approximately 908 square meters along the approach road leading to the Haji Ali Dargah.
Vide order dated September 17, 2026, the Court observed that since the core directions of the impugned High Court order had already been given effect to, it was not necessary to entertain the Special Leave Petition any further. Accordingly, the Court disposed of the Special Leave Petition while reserving liberty to the Petitioner-Trust as well as to the impleading applicant to seek appropriate reliefs before the competent forum in accordance with law.
Regarding the regularisation of the Kinara Mosque, the Supreme Court granted liberty to the Petitioner-Trust to take appropriate steps in accordance with law, either by filing a fresh application or by submitting a reminder to revive the earlier pending representation before the State Government of Maharashtra.
The State Government was directed to decide the said regularisation application in accordance with law, as expeditiously as possible, and preferably within a period of six months from the date of receipt of a copy of the order, after affording a hearing to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation and, if necessary, coordinating with the Central Government.
Subsequently, an application was filed by the Trust, and the Court granted the relief that no demolition or encroachment must be done until the State takes the decision on regularisation.
Cause Title: Haji Ali Dargah Trust v. Sahayak A Socio Legal & Educational Forum & Ors. [Miscellaneous Application No. 3075/2026 in SLP(C) No. 10133/2017]
Appearances:
Petitioner: Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran, Advocate on Record Priya Puri, Advocate Shubail Frook, Advocate Ranjay Kumar Dubey, Advocate Shruti Narayan, Advocate Nida Khan Salim, Advocate Abhishek Mishra, Advocate Sachin Dubey, Advocate Riya Dogra
Respondents: Advocate on Record M/s J S Wad And Co., Advocate Ashish Wad, Advocate Manoj Wad, Advocate Swati Arya, Advocate Deepanshu Verma