Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) [India], May 19 (ANI): The Allahabad High Court on Monday upheld the trial court’s order to survey the Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district.
The petition filed by the Muslim side, seeking to halt the trial court proceedings, was rejected after the court found “no issues with the trial court order” in the ongoing dispute between the Jama Masjid and the Harihar Mandir in the district.
Reacting to the judgment, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain said that the High Court has rejected all objections raised regarding the appointment of the Survey Commissioner by the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Chandausi.
“This is a very important decision of the Allahabad High Court and all those who had spread the misconception in the country that the Survey Commissioner appointed by Civil Judge Senior Division Chandausi on 19th November was a wrong appointment and he should have heard the Masjid Committee before making the appointment, today that proposition of law has been completely rejected by the court,” Jain told ANI.
Explaining the court’s authority to appoint a Survey Commissioner, Jain said, “The simple proposition of law is that the court can appoint a Survey Commissioner in the exercise of the power of Order 26, Rule 9 and 10. There is no need to hear anyone at that time. The mandate of law is only that when the Survey Commissioner goes to the spot for survey, he will conduct the survey in the presence of both the parties. Which was followed here on both the days i.e. 19th and 24th November.”
Criticising certain parliamentarians and senior advocates who had raised questions on the survey, he added: “So the big barristers and parliamentarians who had made comments on the dignity of the court and the dignity of the parties on the dignity of this entire process, today a well-reasoned judgment has put a full stop to it.”
Jain further said that the High Court’s decision to vacate the stay on the trial means the legal proceedings will now continue.
He also clarified that the Place of Worship Act and the Supreme Court’s order of December 12 do not apply in this case: “We will come to the Supreme Court for a stay vacation of the survey report, which has been filed in a sealed cover. At the same time, the High Court has vacated the stay on the trial. This means that the trial will proceed further. The Worship Act is not applicable in this because it is the admitted case of both the parties that this is an ASI protected monument of 1958 and is governed by the ASI Act 1958… Therefore, neither the Place of Worship Act nor the Supreme Court order of December 12 is applicable here.”
Speaking on the development, advocate Hari Shankar Jain said, “The court rejected the Muslim side’s plea and said that the survey was correct. Whatever survey was done, it will be read out and made part of the record. If they (Muslim side) go to the Supreme Court, we are ready to welcome them.”
The mosque management committee had filed a civil revision petition seeking a stay on the ongoing trial court proceedings in an original suit pending before the Sambhal district court.
Earlier, on April 29, the Supreme Court had granted two weeks to the Committee of Management, Shahi Jama Masjid, to respond to a status report filed by Uttar Pradesh authorities, which stated that the disputed well is located outside the mosque premises.
In November 2024, the top court had stayed the trial court proceedings, directing that the matter should not be heard until the mosque committee’s petition against the survey order was listed before the Allahabad High Court.
Tensions had erupted in Sambhal after the local court ordered the mosque survey on November 19. Protests against the order led to clashes with the police, resulting in the deaths of four people.
The survey followed a petition filed in the local court, claiming that the site of the mosque was originally a Harihar temple dedicated to Kalki, the last incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and was demolished in 1526 to construct the mosque. (ANI)
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