The Supreme Court will hear on Friday, a petition filed by the Sambhal Shahi Jama Masjid Committee, challenging the survey of Shahi Jama Masjid at Chandausi.
The matter will be heard by the Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar.
The Committee challenged an ex-parte order passed last week by a Civil Judge (Senior Division) of Sambhal, directing survey of the mosque by an Advocate Commissioner.
The plaintiffs claimed that the Shahi Jama Masjid in Chandausi was built by Mughal emperor Babar in 1526 after demolishing a temple that stood there. The survey triggered violence which left four persons killed.
The Masjid Committee submitted that the “hot haste” in which the Commissioner proceeded with the survey, gave rise to apprehensions in the minds of the residents of the area, making them come out of their homes.
The Committee contended that the suit was barred by the Places of Worship Act and the trial court erred in passing the order ex-parte without hearing the Mosque side. It further said that the Mosque was an ancient monument protected by the ASI.
The petitioner further submitted that it was constrained to approach the Apex Court directly due to the extra ordinary circumstances.
The petition expressed concern over the emerging pattern of rampant ordering of surveys by courts on Mosques.
The Committee sought directions that no such orders should be routinely passed without hearing the defendants.
The petitioner added that routine passing of such orders had the tendency to inflame communal passions, create law & order problems and damage the secular fabric of the country.
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