The Supreme Court docket on Friday expressed a tentative view that an intra-court enchantment earlier than a division bench of the Allahabad excessive court docket might be the suitable discussion board to problem the maintainability of 18 fits filed by Hindu litigants within the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute.
Whereas fixing December 9 for an in depth listening to, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and justice PV Sanjay Kumar noticed: “We have now to resolve what’s the authorized place although prima facie we really feel that in all probability intra-court enchantment is permissible.” It, nevertheless, was fast to make clear that its view was provisional and topic to additional arguments from the mosque administration committee in the course of the subsequent listening to.
The observations got here because the mosque administration committee, which has challenged the August 1 ruling by a single decide bench of the Allahabad excessive court docket permitting the fits to proceed, argued that the excessive court docket’s order was supervisory in nature and shouldn’t be topic to additional appeals inside the similar court docket.
However the bench had remarked in the course of the earlier listening to on November 5 that the excessive court docket had acted in an unique capability on this matter, and intra-court appeals may be allowed beneath its guidelines.
The continuing authorized tussle pertains to the Mughal-era Shahi Eidgah mosque in Mathura, which Hindu teams declare was constructed on the location of a temple marking the birthplace of Lord Krishna. The 18 fits filed by Hindu litigants search the removing of the mosque and restoration of the temple. The August 1 ruling by a single decide bench of the Allahabad excessive court docket had allowed these fits to proceed, a choice contested by the mosque administration committee.
Within the earlier listening to on November 5, the bench hinted that not all points within the case would possibly want quick decision by the apex court docket if some might be handled by an intra-court enchantment. The bench had requested the mosque committee’s counsel, advocate Tasneem Ahmadi, to discover whether or not provisions beneath the Allahabad excessive court docket guidelines allowed for such an enchantment and to submit a word on the maintainability of the matter.
The Supreme Court docket can also be seized of a problem to a different order by the Allahabad excessive court docket that transferred all 18 fits to itself from the civil courts in Mathura. That Could 26 order, together with subsequent instructions allowing a survey of the mosque premises had been opposed by the mosque administration committee and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board. The apex court docket, in January 2024, stayed the survey order, calling the plea for a survey “very obscure” and noting that important authorized points required scrutiny.
The Hindu plaintiffs within the case argue that the mosque, positioned adjoining to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, stands on land that was as soon as the location of a Hindu temple. In addition they search to overturn a 1968 compromise between the mosque committee and Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sangh, which affirmed the mosque’s presence.
The mosque administration committee, nevertheless, contends that the fits are barred beneath the Locations of Worship (Particular Provisions) Act, 1991, which preserves the spiritual character of locations of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947, apart from the Ayodhya dispute.
