HC seeks govt's reply on plea against ban on annual urs in Bahraich

Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Wednesday asked the state govt to respond to the plea seeking direction to the district administration to allow the annual urs at the Dargah of Syed Salar Masood Ghazi in Bahraich.

The writ petition filed on behalf of Waqf No. 19 Dargah Sharif , Bahraich, challenged the order of the district magistrate that disallowed the holding of the urs this year.

The urs was scheduled to start on May 15. The bench comprising Justice Rajan Roy and Justice OP Shukla fixed May 14 as the next date of hearing.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner Dargah Sharif, advocate LP Mishra argued that the dargah was established in 1375 AD by Firoz Shah Tughlaq in memory of Syed Salar Masood Ghazi.

"Month-long urs is held every year which is attended by 4-5 lakh people from India and abroad. The district magistrate has no right to stop the urs as according to an order issued on April 1, 1987, the administration itself is duty-bound to arrange for the urs," he said.

Opposing the petition, the govt counsel said that the urs was held within a radius of about five km and the order given by the district magistrate was based on the report of local intelligence unit and other departments. It was said that there was no ban on holding of urs within the dargah.

When advocate Mishra told the court that the area of 1.5 square kilometres around the dargah belongs to the shrine itself, the court asked him for relevant documents. At this, Mishra sought time to present the documents. The court granted time and fixed May 14 as the next date of hearing.