AMN
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 court on Monday (May 19) dismissed a plea filed by the caretakers of the mosque challenging the Sambhal court’s order dated November 19, 2024.
A civil court in Sambhal had in November 2024 ordered a survey of the mosque by an advocate commissioner. A hurried survey of the mosque took place after the lower court took cognisance of an application filed by some Hindu activists as part of their suit claiming that the Islamic religious site built during the time of the first Mughal Emperor Babur was originally a prominent Hindu temple dedicated to the prophesied avatar of Vishnu, Kalki.
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 the survey, he will conduct the survey in the presence of both parties. Which was followed here on both the days, i.e., 19th and 24th November.”