MUMBAI, Feb. 21 -- The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) if it would, on humanitarian grounds, allow taxi and autorickshaw drivers to offer namaaz during the month of Ramzan in the vicinity of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. A division bench of justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla was hearing a petition filed by Taxi-Rickshaw Ola-Uber Men's Union on January 19, to "protect the fundamental rights of thousands of devotees, who have been deprived of a place of temporary worship inside the airport premises". The petition said there was a prayer shed for Muslims inside the airport periphery where they had been allowed to pray for 30 years. It was a semi-permanent, safe, and accessible structure, used by nearly 1,500 to 2,000 people daily. The prayer hall was also used for opening and breaking the fast during Ramzan. However, on August 18, 2020, the GVK Group, the earlier operator of the then Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) informed the Taxi Union that the prayer hall had been shifted to another location nearby. In October 2020, the union wrote to the deputy commissioner of police and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GVK Group highlighting the inadequate facilities at the new site and also pointed out that CCTV cameras had not been reinstalled in the area. In December 2024, the prayer hall was finally shifted again from the parking area to a location near the petrol pump in the area. The union claimed that once again there were no CCTV cameras and added that there were some other issues too. Between January 1 and March 14 the union wrote several letters to the airport authorities and the senior police inspector of the airport police. However, on April 5, 2025, the prayer hall was demolished by the MMRDA. In their recent plea, the union said the demolition was done "arbitrarily and without giving any notice to the Union". A document received via the Right to Information Act, revealed that the demotion was carried out over complaints filed by Santosh Mishra, who claimed that the prayer hall was illegal. The union then wrote several letters to the MMRDA, senior police inspectors, and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis too, but got no response. The petitioners finally approached the high court on January 19, stating that " in no realm of legality can the prayer hall be said to be unauthorised or illegal". "Respondents (the MMRDA and airport authorities) have acted beyond the contours of law and thereby, acted with discrimination and selective secularism," the petition said. The petition added that there were two Hindu temples which were kept well-maintained within the same airport premises, and by protecting one set of religious structures and demolishing another, the authorities have violated the "negative equality" principle, which allows the same benefit to all. "While the Petitioner respects all faiths, the selective demolition of only the Muslim place of worship is a clear act of discrimination", the petition stated. The Union informed the court that on December 20, 2025, the MIAL had assured the Union that a temporary prayer hall would be provided to them for Ramzan. The union asked the court to order the Adani Airport Holdings Ltd., MIAL, and the authorities to either restore the prayer hall or provide an alternate prayer space at the airport....