The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on a petition filed by the Gyanvapi mosque management committee, challenging the maintainability of a suit seeking the restoration of a temple at the site where the mosque stands.
The case was scheduled before the bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal, who adjourned the matter, rescheduling it for December 7. In an order dated August 28, the then Chief Justice Pritinkar Diwakar had transferred the case from Justice Prakash Padia to himself, stating that “a 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.”
Justice Diwakar further explained that the decision to move 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. Following Justice Diwakar’s retirement on November 22, the case was brought before Justice Agrawal on Tuesday.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC) has contested the maintainability of a suit filed before a Varanasi court, wherein the plaintiff seeks the restoration of a temple at the Gyanvapi mosque’s location. The counsel for AIMC, S F A Naqvi, stated that the petition also challenges a Varanasi court directive issued on April 8, 2021, instructing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a comprehensive survey of the mosque.
