Court notice to Ajmer shrine administrator

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed the administrator of the shrine of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer to appear before it on September 26 to reply to charges of corruption and mismanagement levelled by an official committee.

A division bench headed by Justice TS Thakur asked the administrator, a government official from the ministry of minority affairs, to come to the court with all documents to reply to the charges made by a committee instituted by the government a few months ago.

During the hearing of a public suit filed by NGO Hum Aap Ke, the court observed, "The report alleged large-scale corruption by the committee and the administrator needs to explain this."

After the ministry of minority affairs received a large number of complaints about irregularities in the management at the shrine and the NGO filed the suit, a seven-member committee conducted an inquiry, examined documents and held hearings in Ajmer in February.

Headed by Ghayur-e-Alam and with Firoz Bakht Ahmed as its convenor, the committee noted in its report: "The very first impression is that of dingy lanes, haphazard shops, beggars and unhygienic conditions."

But the investigation brought to light more sordid aspects of the shrine management with money being spent without maintaining proper records, misuse of facilities, encroachment of the premises by unauthorised people and even sale of liquor in its vicinity.