The Allahabad High Court on Friday reserved its judgment on a petition challenging the maintainability of a suit seeking the “restoration” of a temple at the site of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi.
A bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal reserved the judgment after hearing the counsel for both the parties. The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee of Varanasi and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board have challenged the maintainability of the original suit filed in 1991 in the Varanasi district court. The suit aims to restore an ancient temple at the site of the Gyanvapi mosque, claiming that the mosque was originally part of the temple.
In an order dated August 28, the then Chief Justice Pritinkar Diwakar transferred the case from Justice Prakash Padia to himself, citing that the “single judge continued with the hearing of these cases for more than two years, even though he had no jurisdiction in the matter as per the roster.”
He further stated that the decision to withdraw the case from the single-judge bench to the chief justice’s court was made on the administrative side in the interest of judicial propriety, judicial discipline, and transparency in case listing.
Justice Diwakar retired on November 22, and after his retirement, the case was listed before Justice Agrawal. The counsel for the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, S F A Naqvi, noted that the petition also challenges a Varanasi court’s direction to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a comprehensive survey of the Gyanvapi mosque. This order was issued on April 8, 2021.
