SC refuses to stay survey at Eidgah mosque complex

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the survey of the Shahi Eidgah mosque abutting the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in Mathura, observing that neither is a petition challenging the order of survey before it nor does it consider it necessary to pass a restraining order at this stage.

- Utkarsh Anand

"At this stage, we won't stay anything. If there is any adverse order, you can come back...Should we be staying a matter without the impugned order being in front of us," a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti asked senior counsel Huzefa Ahmadi, who appeared for the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board and the Eidgah management committee.

Responding, Ahmadi emphasized that the high court must be asked to stay its hands since a related matter has already been listed by the Supreme Court on January 9. "Why should the high court go ahead when the very issue of whether they can proceed with the matter is pending before this court?" asked Ahmadi.

By an order on November 10, the Supreme Court fixed January 9 for considering the objections of the Eidgah committee and UP Sunni Waqf Board to the high court order deciding to hear nearly 18 suits relating to Krishna Janmasthan-Shahi Eidgah land dispute by transferring them to itself from various civil courts in Mathura.

However, the high court on Thursday went ahead and directed the appointment of an advocate-commissioner to oversee the survey of the mosque, which Hindu petitioners say holds signs proving that it was a once a Hindu temple, opening a new chapter in the decades-old dispute that is part of a raft of cases where Hindu petitioners are pushing for legal change to gain rights over Islamic holy sites.

To be sure, there has been no stay order by the apex court against the proceedings before the high court.

Ahmadi, challenging the Thursday high court order, urged the Supreme bench to issue a restraining order to stop the high court from going ahead with the procedural directions regarding the survey on December 18 when the matter will be heard next.