The Allahabad High Court will deliver the crucial verdict on the plea against the lower court order permitting the Hindu side to conduct prayers in the southern cellar of Gyanvapi Mosque on Monday.
The petition against the Varanasi Court's January 31 order was filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Mosque Committee (which manages Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi) on February 1. It came after the Varanasi court on January 31 order allowed the Hindu side to perform 'Puja' In 'Vyas Tehkhana' (southern cellar of Gyanvapi Mosque).
According to the order, a Hindu priest can perform prayers before the idols in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque and the prayers will be conducted by a "pujari" nominated by the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust.
The mosque committee approached the Supreme Court against the order, seeking an urgent hearing but the top court refused to hear its plea and asked the petitioners to approach the Allahabad High Court.
The hearing was held in the Allahabad HC on February 15 and the bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal had reserved the judgment.
The main argument of the mosque committee was that the Vyas Tehkhana was under its possession since it was a part of the Mosque premises and that the Vyas family or anyone else did not have any right to worship inside the Tehkhana. The Muslim side further argued that there had been no prayers in the 'Tehkhana' since 1993 and if after 30 years, the court was appointing a receiver and changing the status quo, there should have been some cogent reason behind the decision.
The petitioners also submitted that the Hindu plaintiff was never in possession of the Vyas Tehkhana, and the question about the possession can only be decided after framing of issues, reported Live Law.
The counsel for the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, S F A Naqvi said in the plea that the Hindu side's suit itself is barred by order 7 rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code. The plea has also alleged that the main purpose behind filing the suit was to create a controversy over the functional Gyanvapi mosque where regular namaz is offered.
To this, the Hindu side argued that the Hindu 'Puja-Path' never stopped inside the Tehkhana and the same continued even after 1993 when the CRPF took possession of the same.
The counsels for the Hindu plaintiff, Advocate Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain, said their first prayer (for appointment of a receiver) was allowed on January 17. However, the second prayer (for the performance of prayers inside Vyas Tehkhana) was not allowed due to some omissions. They requested the District Judge to allow the second prayer too, he allowed the same on January 31 by invoking powers under Section 152 CrPC.
Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who had petitioned the Varanasi district court seeking the right to worship there, had claimed that his grandfather, Somnath Vyas, offered "puja" there up to December 1993, when it was stopped by the administration.
The Hindu side also claims that the "puja" stopped there during the tenure of then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav after the Babri masjid demolition on December 6, 1992.