BREAKING| Supreme Court Stays HC Order Appointing Commissioner To Inspect Shahi Eidgah Masjid In Krishna Janmabhoomi Dispute.

 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 16) stayed the implementation of the Allahabad High Court order appointing a Commissioner to inspect the Shahi Eidgah mosque at Mathura in the Krishna Janmabhoomi case. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta passed the interim order while issuing notice on a special leave petition filed by the mosque committee gainst a December 14 order of the Allahabad High Court by which it had allowed an application for the appointment of a court commissioner to inspect the mosque.Advocate Tasneem Ahmadi, appearing for the Mosque Committee, argued that the High Court could not have passed the order when an application seeking rejection of the suit as barred by the Places of Worship Act 1991 (under Order VII Rule 11 CPC) is pending. She also placed reliance on the recent judgment in Asma Latheef v. Shabbir Ahmad which held that when the maintainability of a suit is questioned, the trial court must decide at least prima facie on the jurisdiction before granting interim relief.The bench, while accepting the legal contention on a prima facie level, also expressed reservations about the manner in which the commission application was filed. "There are legal issues that arise. That apart, the application for local commissioner is very vague. Can an application be  made like this? ...We are staying the operation of the impugned order to the extent of the commission being executed.…", Justice Khanna said.Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the plaintiffs, objected to the stay of the order and urged that the High Court be allowed to work out the modalities of the commission survey.