Sambhal mosque row: Setback for Masjid committee as Allahabad HC upholds trial court’s order for survey

The Allahabad High Court on Monday rejected a petition filed by the Masjid committee against the survey ordered by a Sambhal court in the Shahi Jama Masjid and Harihar Temple dispute.

 

Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal, who had previously reserved its order on the matter, ruled that the order to appoint a court commissioner and the suit were maintainable.

 

The local court had ordered an Advocate Commissioner to conduct an Archeological Survey of India (ASI) survey of the mosque in a suit which claimed that the structure was built after destroying a temple.

 

The petition was filed by eight persons, including Mahant Rishiraj Giri, who claimed that the Sambhal Mosque was built in 1526 after demolishing a Hindu temple that stood there. 

 

The mosque committee challenged the local court order in the high court, saying the dispute stood settled in 1877.

 

The high court, however, refused to accept the argument. "If the title suit was decided in favour of revisionist in the year 1877, then, question arises as to why the revisionist had entered into an agreement in the year 1927 subjecting the structure in dispute to the Act of 1904?" it asked. 

 

The high court noted that the alleged agreement did not reveal the ownership of the revisionist (committee) and clearly spoke that the structure needed to be protected in pursuance of the Act of 1904 by the Archaeological Department.

 

"I find that court below had not committed any error, irregularity or illegality in granting leave to institute the suit before the expiry of period of notice under Section 80(2) CPC, as it was never objected by the Government or its officials defendants 1 to 5 and revisionist/defendant 6 being a private person is not covered under the canopy of Section 80,” Justice Agarwal said.

India