The Allahabad High Court on Thursday directed a Mathura court to dispose of the petitions claiming ownership of the entire land on which the Srikrishna Janmabhoomi was situated and seeking removal of the adjoining Shahi Idgah Mosque within four months.
A single bench comprising Justice Salil Kumar Rai also directed the district court to hear all the petitions together and ensure the presence of all the parties in the matter and pass an ex-parte order if the Sunni Central Waqf Board, the opposite party in the dispute, did not attend the hearing.
The order of the court came on a petition filed by the leader of a saffron outfit seeking a daily hearing of the matter and early disposal of the petitions.
A total of nine petitions were currently pending in the Mathura district courts with regard to the ownership claims of the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Complex. All the petitions were filed by the Hindu parties. A Mathura court has fixed May 19 for pronouncing its orders on one of the petitions.
The petitions have sought the removal of the Shahi Idgah mosque, which was adjacent to the existing Shrikrishna Janmabhoomi, from the complex and claimed ownership over the entire 13.37 acres of land on which they were situated.
The agreement allowed the Mosque to continue to exist and use the land on which it was situated.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which had spearheaded the Ram Temple movement, had made it clear that the Shrikrishna Janmabhoomi issue would be taken up in 2024 when the next general elections were scheduled to be held in the country.
(Published 12 May 2022, 15:09 IST)
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