Supreme Court stays Allahabad HC order for survey of Shahi Eidgah mosque

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the Allahabad high court's order appointing an advocate commissioner to survey the Shahi Eidgah mosque adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura. A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta called the application seeking the appointment of a local commissioner “vague”.

The bench was hearing a plea of the Committee of Management, Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah challenging the Allahabad high court order.

“You can’t file a vague application for appointment of court commissioner. It should be very specific on the purpose. You can’t leave everything to the court to look into it,” the bench told senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Hindu bodies, reported news agency PTI.

Meanwhile, the top court also issued notice to the Hindu bodies seeking their response while making it clear that proceedings before the high court in the dispute will continue. The case will be taken up on January 23, it added.

What is Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Masjid dispute?

The Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Masjid case is a decades-old dispute pertaining to the site in Mathura where petitioners claim that the Shahi Idgah mosque adjoining the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple holds signs suggesting that it was a Hindu temple once. The Hindu petitioners believe the mosque was constructed atop the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Mathura, adding that a lotus-shaped pillar characteristic of Hindu temples exists on the mosque premises.

Allahabad high court's order

On December 14 last year, the Allahabad high court allowed the plea of the Hindu side to conduct a court-monitored survey of the Shahi-Eidgah mosque premises in the Krishna Janmabhoomi case. The court passed the order on an application filed by a plaintiff seeking restoration of the 13.37-acre land of the mosque.

Meanwhile, the mosque committee had challenged the order and sought rejection of the Hindu side's plea on the grounds that the lawsuit is barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which puts a bar on the change of character of religious places.