SC asks Allahabad HC to urgently hear plea against UP govt decision to take over land of Jauhar University

The bench said that one of the judges on the division bench which reserved the matter for judgment has since been transferred to the high court at Calcutta, and the proceedings will have to be listed before a fresh bench.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court Friday asked the Allahabad High Court to urgently hear a plea filed by Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust challenging the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to take over the land of the Jauhar University in Rampur. Samajwadi Party leader and former minister Mohd Azam Khan is the president of the trust.

A three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the executive committee, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust, that one of the judges who was on that bench had been transferred so he couldn't hear. Sibal said this is scandalous and there are several hundred girls in that school. “We filed the petition in January. They say you vacate...they should have passed the interim order….”, said Sibal.

The bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, asked Sibal to move to acting chief justice of the high court. Sibal said, “We have done it several times but when this man (Azam Khan) is involved it never happens….This is about children. This is shocking!”

The CJI said that from the impugned order, it seems judgment was reserved some time ago, but the bench released the matter from part heard status saying it needed more time to be heard. The bench said that one of the judges on the division bench which reserved the matter for judgment has since been transferred to the high court at Calcutta, and the proceedings will have to be listed before a fresh bench.

The bench directed that the writ petition be shown in the urgent petition and may be listed before a bench presided over by the acting chief justice of Allahabad High Court.

“We grant liberty to the petitioner to move the Allahabad High Court chief justice with an application for interim relief which shall be considered on its own merits”, said the bench.