Team News Riveting
New Delhi, January 16
The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Allahabad High Court order for appointment of a court commissioner to inspect the premises of the 17th century dispute Shahi-Idgah mosque at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta ordered that the proceedings before the High Court can continue but the Commission cannot be executed till the next date of hearing before the top court. The Court had earlier observed that the application filed before the High Court for appointment of the local commissioner was vague and omnibus.
“The prayer (for commissioner), it is so vague! It has to be specific. This is wrong, you have to be very clear what you want him for, you leave it to the court. It is an omnibus application,” Justice Khanna observed.
The Supreme Court was hearing a petition filed by the Muslim side challenging the High Court order that allowed mosque survey by a commissioner. The Hindu group had claimed the mosque was built on the birthplace of Lord Krishna and had demanded a survey. The demand was admitted by a local court in December last year that was challenged by the Muslim side in the High Court.
The Hindu side had filed a petition in a Mathura court demanding full ownership of the contested 13.37 acres of land, claiming the centuries-old mosque was built by demolishing the Katra Keshav Dev temple that stood there earlier. They alleged this was ordered by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
The petitioners claim, as evidence, the existence of carvings of lotuses on some walls of the mosque, as well shapes supposedly resembling of ‘sheshnag’ – the snake demigod in Hindu mythology. This, they had argued, shows the mosque was built over the temple.
The Muslim side had earlier sought to dismiss the petition by citing the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which maintains the religious status of any place of worship as it was on August 15, 1947.
