SC agrees to hear Gyanvapi Mosque Committee’s appeal against Allahabad High Court order that said suits not barred by Places of Worship Act, 1991

New Delhi, March 1

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The Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, Varanasi – 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 that 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.

On behalf of the plaintiffs, senior counsel CS Vaidyanathan said the top court had earlier refused to interfere with the appointment of a commissioner and earlier petitions filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee in relation to the suits were pending before it.

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.

It had dismissed five related petitions — on maintainability and also against a survey of the mosque premises — filed over the years by the mosque committee and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board.