A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, along with Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan, has decided to postpone hearing the petition filed by the ‘Committee of Management of Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah.’ The plea challenges the court-monitored survey and is scheduled for consideration in the first week of April.
![[BREAKING] Supreme Court Extends Stay on Court-Monitored Survey of Shahi Idgah Mosque Complex](https://i0.wp.com/lawchakra.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Supreme-Court-Declines-to-Stay-Allahabad-HC-Order-on-Krishna-Janmabhoomi-Shahi-Eidgah-Mosque-Survey.jpeg?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1)
NEW DELHI: Today (22nd Jan): The Supreme Court has extended its stay on the Allahabad High Court’s directive allowing a court-supervised survey of the Shahi Idgah Mosque complex in Mathura.
Situated next to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, a site of immense religious significance for Hindus, the mosque complex has been a focal point of legal and religious contention.
ALSO READ: Mathura’s Shahi Masjid Committee Accuses Centre of Delays in Places of Worship Case
A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, along with Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan, has decided to postpone hearing the petition filed by the ‘Committee of Management of Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah.’ The plea challenges the court-monitored survey and is scheduled for consideration in the first week of April.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) stated that three key issues are currently pending before the Supreme Court: “the issue of an intra-court appeal, the matter concerning the Places of Worship Act, 1991, and another issue,” which will be addressed during the week starting April 1.
In the meantime, the bench confirmed that the interim order issued by the Allahabad High Court, which stayed the court-monitored survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque complex, remains in effect.
On January 16 last year, the Supreme Court had first stayed the December 14, 2023, order by the Allahabad High Court, which had allowed the survey and appointed a court commissioner to oversee it.
The Hindu side claims that the premises show indications of a temple having once existed at the site. Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing the Hindu parties, argued that the appeal filed by the mosque committee against the December 14, 2023, order and related orders had become irrelevant.
Jain also referenced a subsequent high court order rejecting the Muslim parties’ plea challenging the maintainability of 18 cases related to the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute in Mathura. The court ruled that the religious character of the mosque needed to be determined.
The high court had dismissed the Muslim side’s argument that the Hindu litigants’ suits concerning the dispute over the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple and the adjacent mosque violated the Places of Worship Act, 1991, and were thus not maintainable.
The 1991 Act prohibits altering the religious character of any shrine from what it was on the day of India’s Independence, with an exception for the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
In Mathura, a suit was filed in the Civil Judge Senior Division court seeking the relocation of the Shahi Idgah mosque, claiming it was built on a portion of the 13.37-acre land owned by the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust.
The Hindu side had requested the high court to conduct the original trial, similar to the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title dispute. In allowing the court-monitored survey, the high court emphasized that no harm should be caused to the structure during the process, which could be overseen by a three-member commission of advocates.
On 21st Jan, The Shahi Masjid Committee in Mathura has moved the Supreme Court, alleging that the Central Government is deliberately delaying its response in the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 case. The committee filed a plea on Monday, urging the court to remove the Centre’s right to reply so the case can proceed without further obstruction.
The mosque committee accused the Centre of intentionally not filing its reply, thereby “obstructing those who are opposing the challenge to the Places of Worship Act” from submitting their responses. It highlighted that the Supreme Court granted the Centre four weeks on December 12, 2023, to file its reply, but no response has been submitted to date.
The Shahi Masjid Committee serves as an intervenor in a series of petitions related to the Places of Worship Act, 1991, which prohibits altering the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947. The committee is responsible for managing the Shahi Masjid Eidgah in Mathura, a site involved in 17 legal suits currently being heard by the Allahabad High Court.
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