Mathura row: Supreme Court defers hearing on plea of mosque panel against impleading Centre, ASI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said that the Allahabad High Court's order to allow a plea filed by Hindu petitioners to amend their plaint to add Archaeological Survey of India as a party to the Krishna Janmabhoomi case was correct.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said that it is clear that the amendment to the original plaint by the Hindu plaintiffs has to be allowed, finding no error with the order.

An appeal was filed by the Muslim side, Committee of Management, Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah, Mathura, challenging the High Court's order.

During the brief hearing, the bench orally said that the plea by the Muslim side is absolutely wrong and the High Court should have allowed the amendment to add parties to the suit.

The bench said, prima facie, there was nothing wrong in allowing the amendment of the suit and replies to the amended plaint could be filed, and tagged the plea with other pending cases relating to the dispute.

The court granted time to the Muslim side to file its written statement and deferred the hearing.

In March this year, the High Court allowed amendments to two suits and permitted petitioners to make the Centre's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) respondents. The mosque committee made “Devta Bhagwan Shri Krishna Lala Virajman next friend” and nine others, including “Dev asthan Shri Krishna Janam Bhoomi” and Hari Shankar Jain, as parties.

The mosque committee claimed that the High Court order permitting the amendment undermined its defence already on record and effectively allowed the plaintiffs to set up a new case. The mosque committee contended that the amendment fundamentally altered the nature of the original suit filed by the Hindu litigants, who claimed rights over the site of Shahi Masjid Eidgah, alleging it to be the birthplace of Lord Shri Krishna.

The plea said over 15 suits from different plaintiffs are pending regarding the same property, raising overlapping and competing claims.

The plea said the High Court, while allowing the amendment, also allowed impleading ASI and MHA, without any formal application under the Civil Procedure Code, or establishing they were necessary parties to the suit.

The court on April 4, 2025, had issued notice on a separate plea of the mosque committee against the High Court consolidating all suits of the Hindu side in relation to the Mathura Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute.