AYODHYA: The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board on Tuesday, moved an urgent application in Allahabad high court seeking a stay on the April 8 order of the Varanasi civil court order, allowing an archaeological survey of the Gyanvapi Masjid complex.
Sunni Waqf Board’s counsel Puneet Gupta filed the plea, a day after Anjuman Intezamia of Gyanvapi Masjid moved a similar petition in high court, challenging the trial court’s order to conduct a survey of the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Talking to TOI, chairman of Sunni Waqf Board Zufar Farooqui said, “We have moved high court as the civil court’s order is a violation of The Places of Worship Act, 1991, which is included in the fundamental structure of the Constitution and was endorsed by Supreme Court in its landmark Ayodhya verdict. Now, the status of Gyanvapi Masjid cannot be questioned. No evidence has been produced before the Varanasi lower court that suggests the presence of a temple at the mosque site. The ASI excavation of the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri masjid site too could not conclusively prove the mosque was built after razing a temple and this was specifically mentioned in Supreme Court’s Ayodhya judgment. This practice of ‘investigating’ mosques by ASI must be stopped.”
Monday’s petition filed in high court by Anjuman Intezamia of Gyanvapi Masjid stated that “it appears the learned civil judge is more interested in bypassing judicial disciplines, ethics and procedures of law and to establish himself as above the judicial hierarchy as defined under Civil Procedure Code and assumed himself as the only authority to decide the issue without looking into the legal impediment and bar.”