Khushi Bajpai
Published on: September 1, 2022 at 18:26 IST
The Allahabad High Court yesterday described the affidavits submitted by the state government and the federal government as “sketchy” and ordered the Additional Secretary (Home) U.P. Government to submit his own affidavit in the case within ten days. This hearing was in relation to the Kashi Vishwanath temple-Gyanvapi mosque dispute.
The Director General of the Archeological Survey of India in New Delhi was ordered by the Judge, Justice Prakash Padia bench to submit his personal affidavit on the subject within the same time frame, or 10 days.
The affidavits were requested from the federal government and the state government last year after the high court effectively suspended a contentious order of the Varanasi court that had ordered the construction of the Gyanvapi mosque in the 17th century by staying proceedings in the Kashi Vishwanath Mandir-Gyanvapi-Masjid.
On the other hand, the next friend of Lord Vishweshwar and one of the contesting respondents in the case claimed on Monday that the provisions of the Place of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, do not apply in the case before the Varanasi court because the plaintiff’s complaint does not call for the conversion of the location but rather the determination of the issue.
The respondent’s attorney additionally contended that the Varanasi court had framed the issues based on the lawsuit’s pleadings. The council further claimed that the disputed property, a temple dedicated to Lord Vishweshwar, has been around since the Satyug period.
The respondents have argued that the religious character of the place of worship remained the same as it was on August 15, 1947, negating the ability of the provisions of the Place of Worship Act, 1991, to be applied in response to the masjid committee’s claim that the plaint was barred by the provisions of the Place of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.