Mumbai, 15th April 2021:  The Delhi High Court (HC) allowed 50 persons to offer Namaz 5 times a day during Ramadan on Thursday, on the first floor of the Nizamuddin Markaz mosque in the national capital.

The High Court has said that when other religious places are also open, prayers can be offered in the mosque as well. However, all people visiting the mosque for namaz will have to follow all types of Covid-19 protocol including adopting social distancing, wearing face masks.

Justice Pratibha M Singh instructed the police station of Nizamuddin police station to allow 50 people five times a day to enter the first floor of the mosque bungalow for the Namaz.

Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for the Delhi Waqf Board demanded that the number be increased and the use of other floors of the mosque should also be allowed, which was rejected by the court. However,

The court said that any such application given by the SHO the board can be considered as per law. The court also said that its order may be affected by the notification issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in view of the increasing cases of Covid-19 in the capital Delhi.

The Delhi Waqf Board had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court appealing for the reopening of Nizamuddin Markaz, after hearing the status report filed by the Central Government during the hearing on which the court has given the order.

Earlier, the Solicitor General said on 13 April that it is not  allowed to collectively offer namaz in mosques in Ramadan as per the  DDMA order, after which the court directed the filing of an affidavit.