The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices returnable by April 31 and passed an ad interim order to maintain status-quo concerning the prayers being offered at the Gyanvapi mosque complex. The court refused to stay the hindu prayers at Vyas tehkhana. The court was hearing Gyanvapi mosque committee's plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order and Varanasi court order that enabled the performance of 'puja' in the 'Vyas Tehkhana' or the southern cellar of the structure.
"At this stage, bearing in mind the fact that the Namaz is offered by Muslim community unhindered after the orders dated January 17 and January 31 and the offering of pooja by Hindu priest is confined to the area of tehkhana, it is appropriate to maintain status quo so as to enable both the communities to offer worships in the above terms." the CJI DY Chandrachud said while dictating order.
The CJI further added that the religious observance of Hindus shall be in terms of the order of January 31, 2024 and subject to the safe custody of the receivership.
Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi appeared for the mosque committee and told the court that this is an extraordinary order passed by the trial court and then by the Allahabad High Court. "The effect of the order is to give final relief at the interim stage."
Ahmadi further said that the state govt which is not even a party to the case, implemented the trial court order at the dark hours of the night, the puja is performed that very night of the order. This move Ahmadi said has prevented the mosque committee from seeking a stay.
After making queries about entry and exit points to the mosque, the CJI proposed that the Supreme Court can say let Namaz continue after entry from the north side and the worship in the south cellar can continue.
"So if this is the position, we can issue notice to seek replies and post the matter for further hearing in July," the CJI suggested.
Ahmadi however said that my submission is that there should be an absolute stay and told the court that bit by bit the committee will loose the entire site given the way petitions are being filed in the trial court. He said as many as 20 suits have been filed. One of them has been filed to stop us from going into courtyard.
"History has taught us that what happened in Ayodhya where multiple interim orders were passed and we could protect the mosque."
Senior Advocate Shyam Diwan appearing for the Hindu side said that there is no need for interference by the top court at this time.
"This is a personal right as far as the Vyas family is concerned. For generations, they have been the pujaris. The final relief is not yet granted by the Court," Diwan said.
The Hindu side contended that point of access to the Vyas tehkhana side is from the southern side of the Gyanvapi complex, whereas the access to mosque for offering Namaz is from noth side. It further said that the Vyas family had continued possession of the Vyas Tehkhana. It furthe said that the pooja of the idol has begun on trial court's order and these arrangements may not be disturbed.
Prayers started in the Vyas Tehkhana on January 31 after a Varanasi court order allowed prayers in the southern cellar of the mosque.
On February 26, the Allahabad High Court upheld the Varanasi court's order that permitted Hindu side to offer prayers in the Vyas cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque. The court said that the Uttar Pradesh government's 1993 action of stopping Hindu prayers inside Vyas basement in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque was illegal as the actions were carried out without any written order.
At present, the prayers are now being offered by a Hindu priest nominated by the Kashi Vishwanath temple trust and petitioner Shailendra Kumar Pathak, who claimed that his maternal grandfather Somnath Vyas, also a priest, offered prayers in the cellar till December 1993.