NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Friday, November 29, a plea filed by the Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid Committee (SSJMC), seeking a stay on a November 19 order issued by a Civil Judge.
The order directed a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, which the SSJMC claims was issued in “haste” after a suit alleged that the mosque was constructed on the site of a demolished temple.
The SSJMC’s plea was filed before the Supreme Court on Thursday evening, sought an urgent hearing.
The matter has been listed before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar, according to the Supreme Court’s cause list.
On November 19, Civil Judge (Senior Division) Aditya Singh directed an advocate commissioner, Ramesh Raghav, to conduct a survey on the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhaland and submit a report by November 29.
The order was based on a petition filed by Advocate Hari Shankar Jain and seven others, who alleged that the mosque had been built during the Mughal era after demolishing a temple.
The SSJMC, in its plea, argued that the survey was permitted and conducted within a day, followed by another survey with only six hours’ notice."These actions have given rise to widespread communal tensions and threatens the secular and democratic fabric of the nation," the plea, of SSJMC, said.
The SSJMC has urged the Supreme Court to immediately halt the survey proceedings.
The order was executed involving different communities over places of worship without hearing the defendants (SSJMC and others) and without allowing sufficient time to the aggrieved persons to seek judicial remedies against the order of survey, the plea of SSJMC said.