The Supreme Court
on Tuesday stayed the Allahabad High Court order that allowed a court-monitored
survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in
Mathura.
A bench of
Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta stayed the implementation of the
December 14, 2023 order by which it had 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 a temple once.
The bench said
there are certain legal issues which have arisen and questioned the vague
application made before the high court for appointment of a court commissioner
for the survey.
You can't file a
vague application for appointment of court commissioner. It should be very
specific on the purpose. You can't leave everything to the court to look into
it, the bench told senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Hindu bodies like
Bhagwan ShriKrishna Virajman and others The bench said it is issuing
notice to the Hindu bodies and sought their response while making it clear that
proceedings before the high court in the dispute will continue.
The top court was
hearing a plea of the Committee of Management, Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah
challenging a high court order that allowed a court-monitored survey of the
Shahi Idgah.
The mosque
committee, in its plea, has submitted that the high court ought to have
considered its petition for rejection of the plaint before deciding on any
other miscellaneous applications in the suit.
The 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.