Allahabad HC dismisses Masjid panel plea against Sambhal mosque survey

The Allahabad High Court on Monday upheld the orders of a lower court ordering a survey of the Jama Masjid in Sambhal town. The management committee of the mosque had filed a petition in the High Court challenging the order of the survey.

In November last year the lower court had appointed an “Advocate Commissioner” to survey the mosque. When the survey was in progress, there was extensive violence in Sambhal and the law and order situation there deteriorated. It is claimed that the mosque was erected after demolition of the Sri Harihar Temple at the location of the mosque during the reign of the Mughal emperor Babur in 1527-1528 AD.

With the order of the High Court today all the roadblocks to the continuation of the survey have been cleared. Now proceedings will continue in the lower court.

There were three questions before the High Court of which two were procedural in nature. These dealt with the procedures to be followed under the Civil Procedure Code (CPC). The third question was whether the lower court could have relied on The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 to order a survey when all religious monuments in India are protected by The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991? The substantive issue before the High Court was covered under the third question.

The management committee of the Sambhal mosque relied on the 1991 Act to challenge the survey order. The High Court ruled against that argument and said that, “This is not a case where any conversion of place of worship is taking place or any religious character of place of worship is being changed. Plaintiffs have only sought right to access to a protected monument declared in the year 1920 under Section 18 of the Act of 1958…”

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in its response to the High Court said that the mosque is designated as a centrally protected monument and cannot be described as place of public worship. There are no records for that claim. In the proceedings before the High Court, the management committee of the mosque relied on a document dating to 1927, an agreement between the mutawallis of the mosque and the Collector of Moradabad for the maintenance of the mosque. This court noted that the agreement did not settle the question of ownership of the property at the time the agreement was signed.

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