SC to hear plea challenging Sambhal mosque survey order

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Friday a petition challenging the November 19 order of a district court which directed that a survey be undertaken of a Mughalera mosque in Uttar Pradeshs SambhalAccording to the cause list of November 29 uploaded on the apex court website a bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna is scheduled to hear the plea filed by the Committee of Management Shahi Jama Masjid SambhalThe plea has sought an exparte stay on the operation of the November 19 order passed by the civil judgeThe hot haste in which the survey was allowed and conducted all within a day and suddenly another survey was conducted with a notice of barely six hours has given rise to widespread communal tensions and threatens the secular and democratic fabric of the nation it saidTension has been brewing in Sambhal since November 19 when the courtordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid was carried out following claims that a Harihar temple previously stood at the siteViolence erupted on November 24 as protesters gathered near the mosque and clashed with security personnel leading to stone pelting and arson Four people died and scores of others were injured in the violenceThe plea filed in the apex court claimed the manner in which the survey was ordered in this case and in some other matters will have an immediate impact in the number of cases recently filed across the country concerning places of worship where such orders will have a tendency to inflame communal passions cause law and order problems and damage the secular fabric of the countryIt has sought a direction that the report of the survey commissioner be kept in a sealed cover and status quo be maintained in the Sambhal mosque until the matter is decidedThe plea has also sought the apex courts direction to the effect that surveys should not be ordered and executed as a matter of course in cases involving disputes over places of worship without hearing all parties and allowing sufficient time to the aggrieved persons to seek judicial remedies against the order of surveyIt said the Shahi Jama Masjid at Chandausi in Sambhal has been standing since 16th century and has been in continuous use by the Muslims as a place of worshipWhile there had been no dispute so far with regard to the aforesaid Jama Masjid a suit was filed on November 19 2024 by eight plaintiffs terming the Jama Masjid Shri Hari Har Temple and seeking inter alia directions that the plaintiffs have a right to access qua the Jama Masjid and further seeking injunction against the defendants from creating any hurdle in the access of the mosque which the plaintiffs term as a temple it saidThe plea said that on November 19 the civil judge heard the suit exparte and allowed the application seeking the appointment of an advocate commissioner for a survey of the mosque within hoursThe order dated November 19 2024 also contained no reasons at all as to why such an application was being considered exparte and why was it being allowed the same day the plea statedEvidently the abovesaid order directs a survey as per the application and has given neither any reasons nor any terms of reference for the surveyThe plea claimed that within a span of two hours of the order the advocate commissioner along with a police force and others arrived at the mosque to conduct a survey The survey started at 6 pm and continued till 830 pm it saidWhile the petitioners were preparing for their legal remedies against the exparte order and the survey on November 19 just before the midnight of November 2324 2024 the circle officer came to inform the president of the petitioner committee that suddenly another survey will be conducted the next morning ie November 24 2024 the plea claimedIt said that before the petitioner had the chance to fully comprehend and avail any remedies against the second survey by 615 am on November 24 the survey commissioner arrived with heavy police presence and advocates of the plaintiffs and commenced the surveyThe hot haste in which the matter proceeded and a subsequent survey was suddenly conducted gave rise to apprehensions in the mind of the residents of the area which brought them outside their house As per reports the police opened fire at the protesting citizens and six innocent lives have been lost as a result of firing with many injured it claimedReferring to the extraordinary circumstances the petitioner has urged the apex court to intervene and stay the proceedings of the civil suit pending before the civil judgeThe plea claimed that rampant ordering of surveys where belated claims on mosques are made was emerging as a patternThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever