Supreme Court to hear Gyanvapi panel’s appeal against High Court order

New Delhi, March 1

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the affairs of the Gyanvapi mosque, on Friday moved the Supreme Court against an Allahabad High Court’s ruling that said suits in the matter weren’t barred by the Places of Worship Act, 1991.

A three-judge Bench, led by CJI DY Chandrachud, agreed to hear the appeal filed by the committee after senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi mentioned the matter and said the special leave petition against the high court’s order holding the oldest suit (1991 suit) to be maintainable was listed on Friday.

“We will tag this with the main case,” the Bench told Ahmadi, who said there were some other petitions as well against the high court’s order.

The high court had on December 19, 2023, held that suits for “restoration” of a temple, which was claimed to have stood where the mosque stands in Varanasi, were maintainable, saying, the “religious character” of a disputed place could only be decided by the court.