New waqf order triggers fresh row over 150-yr-old property

A 150-year-old ground-plus-one dilapidated building at Bhendi Bazaar is back in the spotlight thanks to the continuing debates on some contentious provisions in the newly enacted Waqf (Amendment) Law, 2025. The disputed building featured in a Dawoodi Bohra delegation member's submission to PM Narendra Modi during the delegation's meeting with the PM this past week to thank him for the new Waqf Act, which proposes separate Waqf Boards for Bohras and Agakhanis.
"We bought this property at great expense in 2015. In 2019, two people from Nashik and Ahmedabad came and claimed that it is Waqf property. A third party has no right to the property," the member told Modi. The property the Bohra delegation member referred to originally belonged to Haji Ismail Haji Habib Musafirkhana Trust. Spread over 961 sq yards, this property is part of the Bhendi Bazaar redevelopment project being executed by Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust (SBUT).
A dream of the late Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, SBUT is redeveloping the area into a modern, clean, uncluttered urban neighbourhood. SBUT bought the Musafirkhana (travellers' centre as it originally hosted Haj pilgrims) and the attached prayer hall, in 2019. Some tenants and interveners in the case claim this is a mosque and a Waqf property, while SBUT maintains it is just a Musafirkhana with a prayer room attached to it and not a Waqf property.
An interesting twist in the tale came when, on April 8, 2025, the Maharashtra State Board of Waqf (Waqf Board) declared this Musafirkhana a "non-Waqf institution". The Waqf Board complied with the Supreme Court order of May 17, 2024, which asked the Board to find whether the plot is a Waqf property or not. The Waqf Board registered Musafirkhana as a Waqf property on April 9, 2019.
Challenging the Waqf Board order of April 8, 2025, the tenants filed an appeal in the Maharashtra State Waqf Tribunal, Aurangabad, which stayed the order till May 7, 2025. "We are puzzled how the Waqf Board, which registered this property as a Waqf in 2019, has declared it a non-Waqf. According to the Waqf Act, 1995, once a place is designated as a mosque, it will always be a mosque," said advocate Yusuf Bagwala, who represents the tenants.
The SBUT claims this is not a Waqf property. "Following the orders of the Supreme Court, the Waqf Board has recently passed an order confirming that the Musafirkhana Building, which is part of the Bhendi Bazaar Redevelopment Project, is not a Waqf property. However, we have been informed that the Waqf Tribunal has stayed the operation, implementation, and execution of this order until the appeal period," said an SBUT official.
Shoeb Khatib, a Juma Masjid of Bombay trustee and an intervener in the Musafirkhana Trust case, said the declaration of a 150-year-old property as non-Waqf could set a precedent. "Once a Waqf property is declared non-Waqf, it will be easy for the buyer or owner to sell or demolish it. This is one of the reasons Muslims are protesting the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025," said Khatib.
There are some who want the dispute to be resolved amicably. Local MLA Amin Patel said: "The structure is dilapidated and needs to be renovated or redeveloped. The ulema (religious leaders) and SBUT officials should sit together and find an amicable solution in the light of Shariah."