New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday has restored a plea by the Gyanvapi mosque committee which it had inadvertently disposed of on Monday, while it put on hold until 5pm on July 26, a Varanasi district court order allowing an extensive survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to ascertain whether the mosque was built over a pre-existing Hindu temple.
Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, representing the Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia of the Gyanvapi mosque, contended before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud that the court had disposed of the main plea on Monday, instead of its interim application (IA) seeking a stay on the ASI survey.
Ahmadi submitted before the bench, also comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, that there is a correction required in the Monday order and the court had accidentally disposed of the main special leave petition (SLP) and he had only moved an interim application.
Also read-HC resumes hearing Gyanvapi mosque committee's appeal against ASI survey
Meanwhile, the Allahabad High Court resumed hearing on the mosque committee's plea against the ASI survey. Ahmadi said the Allahabad High Court is hearing the matter and the SLP was against an Order 7 Rule 11 issue, which was not argued before the court on Monday and pointed out that it can be argued before the high court that their appeal has been dismissed.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government and the ASI, submitted that he has no to the revival of the SLP of the mosque committee. Mehta said what has been disposed of is an IA and not the SLP.
Chief Justice Chandrachud corrected the order, clarifying that the disposed matter was, in fact, the IA and not the SLP as earlier assumed. The mosque committee, in the SLP, had moved the apex court seeking dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the Hindu party in the Varanasi district court under order VII Rule 11(c) of the Civil Procedure Code.
