Gyanvapi Masjid Committee seeks stay on ASI survey

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, the management committee of the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi, has filed an urgent petition before the Allahabad High Court seeking a stay on the April 8 judgment of a local court in Varanasi, allowing an archaeological survey of the entire complex by the Archaeological Survey of India.

In its petition filed on Monday, the management committee has said that the order was passed illegally and without jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, the Sunni Waqf Board will also file an appeal against the Varanasi court order on Tuesday.

The Anjuman Intezamia petition filed by senior advocates, Farman Ahmad Naqvi and Syed Ahmad Faizan, states that the lower court ignored the entire written submissions and applicability of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 and Order 7 Rule 11D of the Civil Procedure Code.

Anjuman Intezamia counsel Farman Ahmad Naqvi said, "We have filed the petition and requested the court to hear us on an urgent basis as our petition is serious in nature."

The petition says the Allahabad high court had already reserved its judgment in this matter, but the Varanasi court has been hearing the contentions of the opposite party.

"It appears that the learned civil judge concerned is more interested to bypass all judicial disciplines and ethics as well as procedures of law and to establish himself as above the judicial hierarchy as defined under the Civil Procedure Code and had assumed himself as the only authority to decide the entire issue without looking into the legal impediment and bar," it says.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board chairman Zufar Farooqui said, "We support Anjuman Intezamia. The Sunni Board will also move the Allahabad high court against the Varanasi civil court order on Tuesday."

Athar Hussain, secretary of Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), the Ayodhya Mosque Trust, said, "The move of Anjuman Intezamia challenging the civil judge's order in Allahabad high court is welcome. It will help uphold the Places of Worship Act, 1991, te relevance of which for preserving the secular character of our Constitution was clearly highlighted in the Ayodhya title suit verdict."