SC adjourns Sambhal’s Jama Masjid plea hearing to Aug 18

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned till August 18 the hearing on pleas by Sambhal’s Jama Masjid committee challenging the Allahabad High Court’s order upholding a survey in the Shahi Jama Masjid–Harihar temple dispute. The bench deferred proceedings after a request for adjournment was circulated.

New Delhi:  The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned till August 18 hearing on pleas filed by the committee of management of Sambhal’s Jama Masjid challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court against the survey ordered in the Shahi Jama Masjid-Harihar temple dispute.

A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe deferred the matter after noting there was a letter circulated seeking adjournment.

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On Tuesday, two separate pleas filed by the committee of management of Sambhal’s Jama Masjid challenging a May 19, 2025 order of the Allahabad High Court came up for hearing before the bench.

The top court was earlier told that the Allahabad High Court could not have proceeded in the matter concerning the survey ordered by a Sambhal court in the dispute in light of the apex court’s December 2024 order.

In a significant order passed on December 12, 2024, the apex court had restrained till further directions the courts in the country from entertaining fresh lawsuits and passing any effective interim or final orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs (a Muslim shrine).

The top court had passed the 2024 order while hearing pleas challenging various provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

The 1991 law prohibits conversion of any place of worship and provides for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.

However, the dispute relating to Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid at Ayodhya was kept out of its purview.

The high court had dismissed a plea of the mosque committee against the survey ordered by a Sambhal court in the dispute, upholding the civil court’s direction for the survey.

The high court had said the order to appoint a court commissioner and the suit were maintainable.

The mosque committee had moved the high court against a November 19, 2024 order of the civil judge directing the Mughal-era mosque’s survey which took place the same day.

A second survey carried out on November 24, 2024, the committee claimed, was illegal as the civil court never ordered it.

On August 22 last year, the apex court had agreed to hear the mosque committee’s plea against the high court order.

“In the meantime, the parties are directed to maintain status quo, as on today,” the top court had said in its order.

A suit was filed before the civil judge senior division, Sambhal, contending that the mosque was built after demolishing a temple at Sambhal.

The mosque, it claimed, was built by Mughal emperor Babur in 1526 after demolishing the Harihar temple.

The top court on November 29, 2024 ordered the Sambhal court to halt proceedings in the case over the mosque and its survey at Chandausi while directing the Uttar Pradesh government to maintain peace and harmony in the town.