New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday extended its stay till November on the operation of the Allahabad High Court order that allowed a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque complex adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar ordered the continuation of the stay the apex court had imposed on January 16 on the operation of the December 14, 2023, order of the High Court.
The High Court had allowed a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque complex and agreed to the appointment of a court commissioner to oversee it.
The Hindu side claims the premises hold signs suggesting that a temple once existed at the site.
During the hearing, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, appearing for the Hindu parties, said the appeal of the Committee of Management Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah filed against the December 14 last year order of the high court and connected orders in the matter has become infructuous.
“All these petitions have become infructuous as the high court has pronounced its order on August 1,” he said.
Jain referred to the August 1 order of the High Court, in which it rejected a plea of the Muslim parties challenging the maintainability of 18 cases related to the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute in Mathura and ruled that the religious character of the mosque needs to be determined.
The court had dismissed the Muslim side’s contention that the suits filed by the Hindu litigants relating to the dispute over the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple and the adjacent mosque violated the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 and therefore were not maintainable.
The 1991 Act prohibits changing the religious character of any shrine from what existed on the day of the country’s independence. It exempted only the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute from its purview.
The bench said there is also an application seeking vacation of the stay imposed by the apex court on January 16, and all issues will be considered in the month of November.
Petitions filed by the mosque management committee
A batch of petitions has been filed by the mosque management committee, including the one challenging the May 26, 2023, order of the high court transferring to itself all matters related to the dispute pending before a Mathura court.
In Mathura, a suit was filed in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division (III) for shifting the Shahi Idgah mosque, claiming that it was constructed on a part of the 13.37-acre land of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust.
The Hindu side had requested the high court conduct the original trial like it had done in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute.
While allowing the plea for a court-monitored survey, the high court said last year that no harm should be caused to the structure during the exercise, which it indicated could be overseen by a three-member commission of advocates.
