Allahabad High Court has stayed the show cause notice issued by Sambhal district administration on January 1, 2026. In the notice, petitioner Ali Ashraf was asked to show cause within 15 days regarding his possession of the disputed land and file evidence in support of his case. However, according to Ali Ashraf, this land is recorded as a cemetery in the revenue records and is associated with the Shahi Jama Masjid of Sambhal. Apart from this, this land has been in the possession of the petitioner for a long time where he also has a residential house.
Hearing the writ petition filed by Ali Ashraf, Justice Manish Kumar Nigam, in his order dated March 25, directed both the parties to maintain status quo during this period and also directed the state government to file a reply in this matter. The court fixed May 6 as the next hearing date of this case. During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer argued that the petitioner is in possession of the disputed land and he also has a residential house there. This disputed land has been used as a settlement for more than 200 years and during this time several deals have been made by the residents of the land.
He said that the petitioner is in possession of this disputed land and he cannot be evicted from the land by merely giving a notice from the administration. On the other hand, the counsel for the state government said that the petitioner has only challenged the notice and thus this writ petition is not maintainable. The notice states that the petitioner can file his objections and evidence in support of his case. The state government’s counsel also argued that the state can evict unauthorized encroachment from public land by using its administrative powers.