NEW DELHI, Dec 15: The Supreme Court has refused to stay the Allahabad High Court’s order approving the survey of the Shahi Idgah adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura in the bland dispute case.
Hindu outfits have claimed the mosque was built on the birthplace of Lord Krishna and had demanded a survey. The demand was admitted by a local court in December last year but the Muslim side had filed an objection in the High Court.
“Supreme Court has refused to stay the proceedings and the Supreme Court has fixed the matter so far as challenge to the transfer order is concerned on 9th of January…The High Court order will continue and the High Court will proceed with the matter and there is no stay by the Supreme Court,” Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer for the Hindu side, said.
In a landmark decision on Thursday, the Allahabad High Court had upheld the local Mathura court’s order to conduct a scientific survey on the Shahi Idgah complex at Mathura, on the lines of the similar survey being conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India of the Gyanvapi mosque next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi.
The court on Thursday had also ordered the appointment of an advocate commissioner to verse the survey of the Shahi Idgah complex and decided that the modalities of the Commission of advocates for the survey would be decided at the next hearing on December 18.
Ranjana Agnihotri, a resident of Lucknow, had filed a suit demanding the ownership of 13.37 acres of land of Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi. In her legal suit, Ms Agnihotri demanded to remove the Shahi Idgah mosque built in Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi. The suit filed in the Mathura court has sought the removal of a mosque said to have been built in 1669-70 on the orders of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the 13.37-acre premises of Katra Keshav Dev temple near the birthplace of Lord Krishna.
The Muslim side had earlier sought to dismiss the petition by citing the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which maintains the religious status of any place of worship as it was on August 15, 1947.
(Manas Dasgupta)
