LUCKNOW, May 31 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court dismissed a writ petition seeking the transfer of over two bighas of land at King George's Medical University (KGMU) to the dargah of Hazrat Hameen Shah Sahib, paving the way for the construction of a patient utility centre on the site. A division bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai passed the order on Friday (May 29) which was uploaded on the high court's website on Saturday. Syed Babar Islam, claiming to be the general secretary of an Islamic organisation, filed a writ petition before the high court. He sought directions that the entire land, including the area from which encroachments had been removed-amounting to more than two bighas-be handed over to the dargah and that KGMU be directed to vacate the land. "We find that the grievance raised by the petitioners can be adequately addressed by moving an appropriate application under the Waqf Act, 1995," the court said. "It is for the aforesaid reasons, this court is not inclined to exercise power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, especially finding that the petitioners have a statutory remedy, they are relegated to such remedy," the court added. In legal terms, this phrase means that because a petitioner has a specific, existing path for resolving their issue under the law (e.g., a departmental appeal or a specialised tribunal), the high court or the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case directly and directs them to use that specific statutory route first. "Accordingly, the present writ petition being devoid of merits is dismissed," the court said. The high court's judgment has paved the way for the KGMU administration to proceed with its expansion plan. The land, located behind the department of ophthalmology, was the subject of a dispute after KGMU removed alleged encroachments in 2025. According to university authorities, the total area measures around 20,000 square feet, of which nearly 3,000 square feet is occupied by the dargah, while the remaining 17,000 square feet had been under unauthorised occupation. Earlier, the dargah's managing committee had approached the high court challenging the proposed removal of the encroachments. The petition was dismissed, allowing KGMU to proceed with the demolition drive. A subsequent contempt petition filed by the committee was also rejected....