Gyanvapi-Kashi Title Dispute | Allahabad HC Reserves Verdict On Plea Challenging Hindu Worshippers' 1991 Suit

In a significant development in the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi land title dispute cases, the Allahabad High Court on Friday reserved its judgment on a batch of petitions including a plea challenging a 1991 civil suit filed by Hindu worshippers seeking the right to worship in the Gyanvapi mosque.

The suit, pending before a Varanasi court, seeks to restore an ancient temple at the disputed site currently occupied by the Gyanvapi mosque, with the petitioners contending that the mosque is a part of the temple.

Contesting the suit, it has been the primary contention of the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid Committee (which manages the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi) and UP Sunni Central Waqf Board that the suit prohibited by the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) Act of 1991.

For context, the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991 prohibits the conversion of a religious structure from its nature as it stood on the date of independence.

Last month, the Supreme Court refused to interfere with the order passed by Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Pritinker Diwaker (now retired) transferring the cases concerning the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi Mosque dispute to his bench from the bench of another judge.

A three-judge bench led by CJI Chandrachud pointed out that the previous judge (Justice Prakash Padia) had not delivered the judgment despite reserving it in 2021 and holding seventy-five hearings, and hence, the CJ's order to transfer cases was justified.

For the uninitiated, on August 11, the then Chief Justice (Justice Diwaker) passed an order on the administrative side withdrawing the Gyanvapi title dispute cases from the bench of Justice Prakash Padia "in the interest of judicial propriety and judicial discipline as well as the transparency in the listing of cases". Later, the matters were assigned to the bench of Chief Justice.