Court defers order on survey of Atala mosque

Varanasi: In view of the Supreme Court's directive of Dec 12 to the country's courts to refrain from passing orders on lawsuits related to religious places under the Places of Worship Act, the Jaunpur district's court of civil judge (junior division) on Monday deferred the date of passing an order on the framework for the survey of Atala Mosque until March 2.Providing details of Monday's development to TOI, plaintiff and president of the Swaraj Vahini Association Santosh Kumar Mishra's advocate Ram Singh said, "In view of the SC's directives, civil judge (junior division) deferred the date of delivering the order in civil suit number 917/2024 in which the plaintiff is seeking rights of worship at Atala Devi temple and restricting entry of non-Hindus as they are destroying the signs of the Hindu temple. Now, the court has fixed Mar 2 as the next date in this regard." On July 2, this court ordered a survey by land revenue department officials and amin Ramsuarat Mishra was assigned the task to carry out the survey of the mosque. Singh added that to ensure compliance with the court order, the survey team reached the mosque on July 30, but faced massive protest from the defendants—the mosque management committee—which also shut the mosque doors.Mishra returned after inspecting the surroundings and on July 31 the survey team led by him reported the problems it faced on reaching the mosque for the survey to the court and sought adequate security to complete the survey. Meanwhile, the Muslim side approached the high court, challenging the Jaunpur court's decision.On the issue of providing security cover to the survey team led by amin, the argument from the plaintiff and defendant sides was completed on Dec 12. The court had fixed Dec 16 to deliver its order on the framework for the mosque's survey, said Singh.On Dec 12, the SC also directed all courts in the country to refrain from entertaining or passing any orders on lawsuits related to religious places under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 while hearing a batch of petitions concerning the law.