Gyanvapi Mosque Management Moves High Court Against Survey, Hearing Begins

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday heard a plea against a district court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India to conduct a survey to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi was built upon a temple.

After hearing arguments in the matter, Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker posted it for further hearing on Wednesday.

The high court also fixed August 28 for delivery of judgement on another petition challenging maintainability of a civil suit before a Varanasi court seeking the restoration of a temple at the site where the Gyanvapi mosque is currently situated. The judgement was reserved by Justice Prakash Padia on the petition filed by UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and others.

On Tuesday, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, which manages the mosque, moved the high court, a day after the Supreme Court halted the ASI survey till 5 pm Wednesday, allowing time for the mosque management committee to appeal against the lower court's order.

The counsel for the committee, senior advocate SFA Naqvi, requested an early hearing of the case before Chief Justice Diwaker stating that there is an urgency as the Supreme Court's Monday order will expire on Wednesday.

On this, the Chief Justice said that if parties have no objection, then he himself can hear this matter. As the counsels for the parties agreed to the same, the court started hearing the matter.

Presenting his argument, Mr Naqvi requested the court to set aside the July 21 order of the Varanasi district court on the grounds that the district court had acted in urgency and directed the ASI to conduct the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque premises and submit its report by August 4. Thereby, not giving sufficient time to the petitioner to challenge its order before appropriate forum as per law, he said.

Mr Naqvi said that the district court on July 21 passed the impugned order of ASI survey even without impleading ASI as a party to the suit.

He further said that the survey order was passed at a very preliminary stage as the parties were not asked to produce their evidence.

Mr Naqvi also argued that during the survey if any excavation is done, it will harm/damage the property in dispute (mosque).

Vishnu Shankar Jain, the counsel for the respondent (Hindu side), submitted that in the Ram Mandir case, a survey was conducted by the ASI and the same was accepted by the high court as well as the Supreme Court. Thus the order passed by the court below was just and proper, he said.

The mosque is located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi and the Hindu litigants in the district court had sought the survey to determine whether a temple existed at the same spot earlier.

The Varanasi district court on Friday ordered the ASI to conduct a survey using technologies like ground penetrating radar and excavations, if necessary.

The Supreme Court's Monday order to pause the survey came while the ASI team was inside the mosque complex.

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