District judge to decide sequence of Gyanvapi case petitions today

VARANASI: Proceedings in the Shringar Gauri worship case resumed in a new setting on Monday — the court of the Varanasi district judge — and adjourned after barely 45 minutes as the custodians of the Gyanvapi mosque questioned the maintainability of the petition filed by the Hindu side while the latter pleaded that the focus should be on examining the "evidence" thrown up by the court-mandated videography survey of the premises.
District judge Dr Ajay Krishna Vishwesh will decide on Tuesday the sequence in which the various petitions, additional pleas, objections and add-ons would be heard.
District government counsel (civil) Mahendra Prasad Pandey told TOI that Anjuman Intejamia Masjid (AIM), which manages the Gyanvapi Masjid, invoked Order VII, Rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Code to question whether the petition seeking the right to unhindered worship of Goddess Shringar Gauri and other deities along the outer wall of the mosque was maintainable.