The Supreme Court has decided to continue its stay on an earlier order by the Allahabad High Court that allowed a court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex in Mathura, located adjacent to the revered Krishna Janmabhoomi temple. This extension was announced by a bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, along with Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan.
The apex court deferred the hearing to the week commencing April 1, addressing several pending issues, including an intra-court appeal concerning the consolidation of lawsuits by Hindu litigants and challenges to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
This decision continues the stay first imposed on January 16 of the previous year, following the Allahabad High Court’s order on December 14, 2023, which had initially sanctioned the survey. The High Court had even approved the appointment of a court commissioner to oversee this survey.
The contention from the Hindu parties, represented by advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, is that the site bears evidence of a pre-existing temple. Jain argued that subsequent rulings by the high court, which rejected challenges by Muslim parties against the maintainability of 18 cases related to the dispute, rendered earlier petitions to stay the survey ineffective.
The Allahabad High Court had also dismissed arguments by the Muslim side that the litigation concerning the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple and the adjacent mosque breached the 1991 Act, which mandates the preservation of the religious character of places of worship as they were at the time of India’s independence, except for the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
In light of these developments, the Hindu litigants had appealed for the high court to manage the original trial akin to the procedure followed in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute. The High Court, while permitting the survey, stipulated that no damage should be inflicted on the structure, suggesting oversight by a three-member commission of advocates.
