Krishna Janmabhoomi case: SC orders continuation of stay on mosque survey

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered continuance of the interim stay on the operation of the Allahabad High Court order for a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta posted the plea filed by the Committee of Management Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah for further hearing in the first half of April.

The top court said all petitions pending before it on the issue will be taken up for hearing together in April.

The top court had on January 16 stayed the operation of the December 14, 2023 order of the Allahabad High Court which allowed a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex.

It had also stayed the order of the high court by which it agreed to the appointment of a court commissioner to oversee the survey of the mosque premises, which the Hindu side claims hold signs suggesting that it was once a temple.

The apex court, however, made it clear that the proceedings before the high court in the dispute, including the maintainability of the suit under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), will continue.

The top court had issued notice to the Hindu bodies and sought their response on the Mosque committee’s plea.

The mosque committee had sought rejection of the plea on the grounds that the lawsuit is barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which puts a bar on change of character of religious places after August 15, 1947. The Ram temple in Ayodhya was the only exception to the 1991 law.