New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday extended its stay on the Allahabad High Court's December 14, 2023 order, which directed a survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.
A bench comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta scheduled the matter for further hearing in August 2024. The bench said that the interim stay on the high court order will continue till the next day of hearing.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan represented the Hindu parties before the apex court and the Muslim parties were represented by advocate Tasneem Ahmadi.
The apex court informed that the Order 7 Rule 11 application is coming up tomorrow before the high court. After a brief hearing, the apex court adjourned the matter to the first week of August and asked parties to complete pleadings till then.
The apex court said that the interim stay order will continue and clarified that it has not stayed the suit proceedings before the high court.
On January 16, 2024, the apex court had stayed the high court’s order, while clarifying that the other proceedings before the high court would continue in the matter.
In an earlier hearing, Divan had vehemently argued against a complete stay on the order and stressed before the apex court that the high court may be allowed to at least work out the modalities of the survey. However, the bench said that the commission shall not be implemented for now.
The apex court had told Divan “Your application for commissioner was very vague. It had to be specific... You have to be very clear what you want him (commissioner) for, but you leave it to the court”.
The bench, while staying the Allahabad High Court order of December 14 for the appointment of an advocate-commissioner to oversee the survey of the mosque, observed that the Hindu plaintiffs did not specify the rationale behind the plea.
“You cannot say that appoint a commissioner in terms of the prayers in the plaint. You must be specific about what exactly you are asking for….”, the bench had said.
The apex court was hearing a plea by Muslim side against the high court giving a go ahead to the survey.
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