New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 15) deferred hearing to March the plea filed by the mosque management committee challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court dismissing its plea against the maintainability of Hindu side pleas in the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah masjid at Mathura.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said that the bench had to hear another case today and would not be able to hear the appeal filed by the mosque management committee.
“We are in another case today. List the plea in March, 2025,” CJI Khanna said.
Appeal was not maintainable at this stage, Hindu side earlier submitted before apex court
One of the lawyers representing the Hindu side earlier on December 9 last year told the top court bench that the Muslim side could have filed an intra-court appeal before the High Court and the appeal was not maintainable at this stage.
Hindu side earlier urged apex court to dismiss Muslim side appeal
Urging the top court bench to dismiss the Muslim side appeal, advocate Barun Sinha, who represented the Hindu side, referred to the Allahabad High Court rules and submitted that “In view of Chapter 8 of the Allahabad High Court Rules, a special appeal before the division bench of the high court would be maintainable.” He further said that an appeal in the top court was not “maintainable against the order of a single judge bench of the High Court and an intra-court appeal in the High Court should have been filed.”
Hearing the appeal filed by the Muslim side, CJI Khanna had earlier said that he prima facie felt that an intra-court appeal would lie against the August 1 last year order of the High Court’s single judge.
What did the High Court say?
The single bench of the High Court had on August 1 last year rejected the arguments of the Muslim side, which argued that the plea filed by the Hindu side was barred under the Places of Worship Act, Wakf Act, Limitation Act and Specific Relief Act. The High Court’s single bench held that the suits filed by the Hindu side “do not appear to be barred by any provisions of the Wakf Act, 1995; the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991; the Specific Relief Act, 1963; the Limitation Act, 1963 and Order XIII Rule 3A of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908”. It further said that the “religious character” of Shahi Idgah needed to be determined.
