Shaban Bukhari kisses his father, Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari, after being formally anointed naib imam of Jama Masjid in New Delhi on Saturday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Nov. 22: Nineteen-year-old Shaban Bukhari loves to go on long drives with friends in his Mercedes and is studying for a bachelor’s degree in social work at a private university in Delhi.

Now he also hopes to learn the ropes under his father, Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari, who today anointed the teenager the naib (deputy) imam of Jama Masjid in a controversial ceremony mirroring a royal coronation.

“I will spend the next few years under my father’s tutelage and will be groomed for the job. I will also try and complete my graduation,” the shy and soft-spoken Shaban, who has had no training in prayer rituals, told The Telegraph moments before the ceremony that was held on the premises of the majestic mosque.

Around 200 religious leaders and ulemas from the country and some from Iran and West Asia were present to witness the dastarbandi (tying of the turban). The anointment, challenged by the Delhi Wakf Board, was celebrated with a fireworks display.

Delhi High Court, hearing a wakf board petition, yesterday allowed the dastarbandi ceremony, saying the anointment of Shaban as Ahmed’s successor “would not amount to appointment” and, therefore, there was no need to stay it. The matter will come up for hearing again on January 28.

The wakf board had told the court Ahmed’s plans to anoint his younger son as his deputy and successor had no legal sanctity. The shahi imam, who leads prayers at the country’s biggest mosque, had sparked a controversy last month when he said he was not inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the post-coronation dinner on November 29. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is on the guest list.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav and BJP ministers Rajnath Singh and Harsh Vardhan are among those invited.

Ahmed Bukhari, 72, is hopeful Mamata will attend. “Trinamul MP Mukul Roy had sent a fax saying Mamata will be present…. It will be an honour to have Didi as she was present at my anointment ceremony in October 2000,” he said. Ahmed’s father, Imam Abdullah Bukhari, who was then ailing, had passed the baton to his eldest son in 2000.

Wakf board chairperson Chaudhary Mateen Ahmed said Ahmed had no right to appoint his son as naib imam because the mosque was controlled by the board. “He is one of the board’s employees but he has been treating it (the mosque) as his own ancestral property,” he said.

Ahmed Bukhari however cited Mughal tradition, according to which only the imam’s son could become his deputy. The Bukharis claim that Shah Jahan had invited Abdul Ghafoor from Bukhara in Central Asia to be the shahi imam. His 12th descendant was Ahmed’s father Abdullah.

The wakf board had gone to Delhi High Court and won a ruling in 2005 that the mosque was wakf property and Ahmed a board employee. Ahmed, who heads a committee that runs the affairs of the mosque and controls its funds, was told to submit detailed accounts.

According to rough estimates, the daily earnings from fee charged to foreign visitors, rent from nearby shops and parking lots amount to around Rs 1.25 lakh a day.