HC order allowing Hindu side to add ASI as party correct: SC

The Allahabad High Court’s decision to allow the Hindu side to add the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as parties in the Mathura Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute was prima facie correct, the Supreme Court said on Monday.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, however, deferred the hearing on the mosque committee’s petition against the HC order and tagged it with other pending cases relating to the dispute.

The top court had on April 4 issued notices on a petition filed by the management committee of Idgah Mosque, Mathura, challenging the HC’s order consolidating all suits filed by the Hindu side in relation to the Mathura Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute.

With regard to the HC’s March 5 decision allowing the Hindu side to implead the MHA and ASI in suits filed for the removal of the mosque from the site, the Bench had even on the previous date of hearing said the order was prima facie right.

“Prima facie the order to that extent appears to be correct in accordance with law, because when you are amending the plaint, you are not going into the merits,” the Bench had said.

The Supreme Court had on January 10 favoured clubbing of 15 lawsuits regarding the dispute.

The Hindu side has sought shifting of the Shahi Idgah mosque, alleging it was built on a part of the 13.37-acre land of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust. They demanded that the high court must conduct an original trial as was done in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute case.