Of the five-acre Park Circus Market, shop-owners claim at least two acres is Waqf property. There are about 544 shop-owners at the Park Circus market, which the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to hand over to Reliance Fresh for renovation. A large section of the shop-owners have vehemently opposed the decision saying it will deprive them of their livelihood.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya has already said the KMC was owner of the market. Local councillor and Member Mayor-in-Council Farzana Chowdhury, who advocates that the market should be developed as it was in a precarious condition, reiterated the same.

“Three hearings of the Waqf Board have already taken place. At every hearing, we have put forward our case that the KMC alone is the owner of the market,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express.

In September last year, the shop-owners’ association had brought to the notice of the Waqf board that the land was the latter’s property.

The shop owners also had submitted some documents to support their claim.

The KMC also submitted records and documents before the Waqf Board claiming that it owned the property. According to these documents, the KMC had opened the Park Circus Market on August 7,1930, by acquiring the plots at 47, 47/1 and 47/2 Karya Road. Shop-owners placed the deed of Waqf dated February 17, 1908, before the Board.