India, June 5 -- New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal filed by the Delhi Waqf Board seeking possession of a pre-independence gurudwara in Oldenpur village of Shahdara as waqf property, observing that the board should have relinquished its claim once the records showed that a religious structure had been functioning on the land since 1948.

A bench of justices Sanjay Karol and Satish Chandra Sharma passed the order on a 2012 appeal filed by the board, challenging a Delhi high court order of September 24, 2010, which held the property to be in possession of the late Hira Singh, who had purchased it from Mohammad Ahsan in 1953.

Dismissing the appeal, the court said, "The records show there is a gurudwara functioning...