The famous Shani Shingnapur temple is indeed passing through difficult times.

After being forced by the Bombay High Court to lift the centuries-old ban on entry of women into its sanctum sanctorum, the temple in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district is now in Supreme Court battling claims that a massive 22 acre chunk of land adjoining it is actually a Wakf property.

The Shaineswar Devasthanam Trust had acquired the property way back in 2004 for building various amenities for the benefit of lakhs of pilgrims, who visit the shrine every day.

The trust moved Supreme Court on Friday challenging a petition filed by one Sayyad Shaukat Mehboob and five others before the Maharashtra Wakf Tribunal at Aurangabad.

They had sought cancellation of the sale deed contending that it had been acquired through illegal means. The apex court, after hearing lawyers Jayant Bhushan and Sandeep Deshmukh who represented the Trust, has given some relief by ordering a status quo with regard to the possession of property. It also restrained the Wakf tribunal from passing any final order in the matter.

The lawyers vehemently argued that the Wakf Tribunal under section seven of the Wakf Act neither did not have the power to hear the matter nor the authority to set aside the sale deed which only a civil court could do.

The Trust had moved SC after its plea was rejected by the Bombay High Court. Ruling in favour of the Shaineswar trust for the time being, a bench of justice Anil R Dave and justice Adarsh Kumar Goel ruled: "Status quo as on today shall be maintained with regard to the possession of the property in question. The tribunal shall not pass any final orders after hearing the parties concerned".

Urging the tribunal to quash the sale deed saying that the Newasa Tehsildar had given possession to the Trust "without the authority of law", Mehboob held that the Wakf Tribunal has jurisdiction to try and decide the present proceeding.

The Shani temple trust argued that the Supreme Court had in Bhanwar Lal Vs Rajasthan Board of Muslim Wakf, held that a relief of cancellation of sale deed has to be tried by the Civil Court for the reason that, it is not covered under section 6 or 7 of the Wakf Act, 1995 whereby jurisdiction is conferred upon the Tribunal to decide such an issue.

"The Bombay High Court did a mistake in not appreciating that a relief of cancellation of sale deed has to be tried by the civil court. Moroever, the property is also not shown in Wakf Register. Then how could the tribunal adjudicate over the piece of property", the Trust's lawyer asked the Supreme Court.

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