SC dismisses plea against transfer of Gyanvapi case from one court to another in HC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee's plea challenging the Allahabad High Court chief justice's administrative decision to withdraw the Gyanvapi case from a single-judge bench hearing it since 2021. The single-judge bench was hearing the plea challenging the maintainability of a suit seeking restoration of a temple at the site where the Gyanvapi mosque exists in Varanasi.

"Dismissed," a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said after hearing the submissions of senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, who represented the mosque committee.

"We should not interfere with the order of the chief justice of the high court...In high courts, it is a very standard practice. This must lie in the realm of the chief justice of the high court," the bench said.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee (AIMC) is challenging the withdrawal of the case from one single-judge bench and its assignment to some other bench by the chief justice of the high court.

Before dismissing the plea, the CJI perused the reasons for the transfer of the case and said he did not want to read it in open court.

On October 30, the Allahabad High Court adjourned the hearing till November 8 on the AIMC's petition.

On November 2, a Varanasi court granted the Archaeological Survey of India extension till November 17 after the ASI said it had "completed" the survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex but needed more time to draft the report.

The ASI was to submit the report of the survey by November 6.