On Tuesday, the Supreme Court halted the Allahabad High Court’s order appointing an advocate commissioner to survey the Shahi Eidgah mosque adjacent to Mathura’s Krishna Janmabhoomi shrine. A panel of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta described the plea for the appointment of a local commissioner as “vague”.
The bench was hearing a petition from the Committee of Management, Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah, contesting the Allahabad High Court ruling.
“You cannot make a vague application for appointment as a court commissioner. It should be very precise about its aim. “You can’t leave everything to the court to investigate,” the bench warned senior attorney Shyam Divan, who was representing Hindu bodies, according to news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, the top court sent a notice to the Hindu entities, requesting a response while emphasizing that the dispute processes before the high court will continue. The case will be taken up on January 23, it said.
What is the disagreement between Krishna Janmabhoomi and Shahi Idgah Masjid?
The Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Masjid lawsuit is a decades-old controversy over a site in Mathura where petitioners say that the Shahi Idgah mosque adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple contains indications indicating that it was previously a Hindu temple. The Hindu petitioners think the mosque was built on the site of Lord Krishna’s birthplace in Mathura, and they claim a lotus-shaped pillar typical of Hindu temples may be seen on its grounds.
Order of the Allahabad High Court
In the Krishna Janmabhoomi issue, the Allahabad High Court granted the Hindu side’s request on December 14 of last year to conduct a court-monitored survey of the Shahi-Eidgah mosque premises. On an application submitted by a plaintiff seeking the restitution of the mosque’s 13.37 acres of land, the court issued the order.
The mosque committee, however, had contested the ruling and asked that the Hindu side’s argument be rejected. They claimed that the litigation was ineligible due to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which forbids the alteration of religious sites.
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