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"The Allahabad High Court on Thursday, 9 September, stayed an order by a Varanasi lower court that had asked the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey to determine whether the Gyanvapi Mosque, located next to the Kashi Vishwanath temple, was built on the ruins of an older temple.
The high court made strong observations about the lower court’s order, saying that it should not have proceeded considering that the verdict in the petitions were pending before the high court.
Though the high court had reserved its order on the matter in March this year, the proceedings in the Varanasi court had not been stopped.
The high court on Thursday, also stayed all proceedings in the lower court, saying, “The court below has full knowledge to the fact that judgment has already been reserved on 15 March 2021. In this view it should not have proceeded and decided on the application filed by the plaintiffs in the original suit for a survey by Archaeological Survey of India", LiveLaw reported.
The Waqf Board and the Gyanvapi Mosque Trust had challenged the Varanasi court order in the Allahabad High Court.
Moreover, he added, "no evidence has been produced before the court that suggests that there was a prior existing temple at the site of the mosque", NDTV reported.
(With inputs from LiveLaw and NDTV)
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