The Gujarat High Court held that the local revenue authority moved to enforce demolition before the 90-day appeal window against its own underlying order had even opened.In a last-minute intervention, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday quashed an order to demolish a century-old Muslim burial ground and other religious structures at Ghogha in Bhavnagar district.The High Court held that the local revenue authority moved to enforce demolition before the 90-day appeal window against its own underlying order had even opened.The Waqf committee that manages the ‘Qabrastan’ was served final notice on August 10, giving it time till 5 pm the next day to bring down its own “encroachment”, failing which the revenue officials would be knocking it down “without any further notice”.The Khankah-e-Khizar A S Waqf Committee, branded an “unauthorised encroacher” by revenue officials, however, received the High Court relief on August 11 — the same day the demolition deadline was to expire.According to its petition, the land had been used by the Muslim community for burial and religious rites for decades, predating its 1987 classification as government land. The petitioner also cited a certificate from the Ghogha Gram Panchayat acknowledging the long-standing existence of the structures and records showing property tax had been paid on them.Encroachment noticesTrouble began on June 3, 2026, when the Land Records Inspector and Additional Mamlatdar (revenue officer) of Ghogha, along with the local village head, issued a notice to the Waqf committee, directing documents to be furnished within five days. The committee replied on July 2, asserting the site’s long-standing religious use. A second notice followed on July 29 — this time giving the committee just one day, till July 30, to respond.On August 6, the Additional Mamlatdar ordered the Waqf committee to remove the “encroachment” within two days and imposed a fine of Rs 250. The petitioner contended that the order was received only on August 8. Within two days — on August 10 — the petitioner received a further, undated notice under Section 202 of the same code, directing removal by 5 pm on August 11, and warning that non-compliance would result in demolition “at any time without any further notice.”The contentionStory continues below this adThe Waqf committee moved the High Court, arguing that receiving the Section 202 notice only on August 10, with a demolition deadline of 5 pm the very next day, left it with virtually no room to invoke its legal remedies against a structure it contended was a century old.Appearing for the petitioner, advocates E B Huseni and Rizwan Shaikh did not challenge the underlying Section 61 order, noting that the Land Revenue Code provides a 90-day statutory appeal against such orders. Their objection pertained to the Section 202 notice ordering removal by August 11, which they argued was, “without allowing an opportunity to the petitioner to prefer an appeal” against the August 6 order– thus subverting the 90-day window which had barely begun.Jayneel Parikh, the Assistant Government Pleader appearing for the State, “could not dispute the fact that the notice under Section 202 of the Land Revenue Code has been issued without affording an opportunity of filing the statutory appeal.”The High Court order noted it was undisputed that the Section 61 order was “immediately” followed by the Section 202 notice, and holds that “the learned Additional Mamlatdar ought to have waited till the statutory period to avail the remedy of appeal is over”, as the notice would have deprived the petitioner of its statutory right to appeal, it was “accordingly quashed and set aside.”Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues. Expertise: Core Authority & Specialization: Her reporting is characterized by a comprehensive grasp of the complex factors shaping Central Gujarat, which comprises a vast tribal population, including: Politics and Administration: In-depth analysis of dynamics within factions of political parties and how it affects the affairs in the region, visits of national leaders making prominent statements, and government policy decisions impacting the population on ground. 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