The Supreme Court made corrections to its previous order in the Gyanvapi mosque case on Wednesday. The court had inadvertently disposed of an appeal by the committee questioning the maintainability of a suit by Hindus seeking worship rights inside the mosque. The correction was made after taking note of the submissions made by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, representing the Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia of the Gyanvapi mosque.
During the July 24 hearing, the main plea was mistakenly disposed of by the top court, instead of the interim plea seeking a stay on the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey on the mosque premises to determine if it was built upon a temple. Huzefa Ahmadi mentioned that the appeal against Order 7 Rule 11 had been disposed of without proper argumentation. The committee had only pressed for the ASI survey point, and the matter is currently before the Allahabad High Court.
The top court had earlier put a hold on the ASI survey, scheduled till July 26, to determine if the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi was built upon a temple. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Uttar Pradesh government and ASI, stated that he had no objections to the correction of the order.
The main plea by the mosque committee sought the dismissal of a lawsuit by the Hindu party in the Varanasi district court, filed under Order 7 Rule 11(c) of the Civil Procedure Code, on the grounds of using an insufficiently stamped and authorized paper.
The Gyanvapi mosque has been the subject of a scientific survey and claims of a “Shivling” by the Hindu side and a “fountain” by the Muslim side. The Allahabad High Court had allowed the scientific survey of the purported “shivling” on May 12, but the top court stayed the order on May 19. The recent correction by the Supreme Court aims to address the procedural issues and clarify the focus of the ongoing case.
