NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday directed for continuation of its order for protection of an area where a “Shivling” was found in Gyanvapi premises till further orders. A Special Bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices Surya Kant and PS Narasimha further allowed the Hindu parties to approach the Varanasi District Court for consolidation of all suits concerning the Gyanvapi dispute. “Mr Vishnu Shankar Jain for the applicants seeks permission to withdraw the IA to enable the applicants to move the District Judge, Varanasi to consolidate the suits. IA is disposed of,” the court said.
Appearing for the Hindu side, Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar told the bench that the district judge on September 12, 2022 had dismissed Committee’s plea that had questioned the maintainability of the suit filed by Hindu women seeking rights to worship Maa Shringar Gauri and other deities on mosque premises.
He further apprised the court with regards to the revision petition that was filed before the Allahabad HC by the Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Varanasi against order passed by the district judge. Against this backdrop he urged the court to extend the interim order dated May 17 with regards to the protection of the “Shivling” since the same had to end on November 12.
Considering the fact that senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi representing the muslim side had no objection with regards to Kumar’s request, the bench in their order said, “We direct that pending further order, interim order dated May 17 which was extended on May 20 shall continue to remain in operation till further orders.”
On May 17, a 3-judge bench had directed the District Magistrate to ensure that the place inside the Mosque where “Shivling” is stated to have been found is protected.
Also in top court
‘2nd round of NEET counselling till Nov 16’
The SC on Friday directed the States and Union Territories to complete the second round of counselling for NEET-PG 2022-23 by November 16, 6 pm. The bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli in their order said, “In order to ensure finality in the process of counselling in NEET-PG we direct all States and Union Territories to finish second round of counselling at 6PM on 16th Nov, 2022 and submit data on the same day to MCC.”
Plea against Nitish’s alliance move junked
The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition challenging the appointment of Nitish Kumar as chief minister of Bihar after the Janata Dal-United forged a new alliance with RJD in August, saying post-poll alignments subject to certain conditions are permissible under anti-defection law.
Registry asked to list Mishra son’s bail plea
The SC directed the Registry to list bail plea by Union Minister’s son Ashish Mishra, main accused in farmers’ deaths, with the bench that has dealt it elaborately. “The judicial propriety demand that matter be placed before the bench consisting of one of the learned judges who has considered this matter elaborately,” the SC said.