[BREAKING] Gyanvapi Mosque: Varanasi Court invites objections to survey report; to hear maintainability plea on May 26

A Varanasi court hearing the Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath Temple dispute on Tuesday asked the parties to the case to file their objections to the advocate commissioner's survey report..The Court will now hear the plea filed under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) by the Muslim party challenging the maintainability of the suit filed by Hindu parties on May 26."The former presiding officer, Civil Judge, CD, Varanasi, while passing the order dated May 19, 2022, had invited objections from the parties on the commissioner's report. The said order is currently in effect. Therefore, the parties can submit objections to the commission report within seven days," the order said. The order clarifying the same was passed by District and Sessions Judge Dr AK Vishvesha.The Hindu parties had submitted yesterday that the objections to the report of the advocate commissioner who had done a survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque and videographed the same, should be taken into account before deciding the maintainability plea. .The case is a civil suit filed by Hindu devotees seeking the right to worship inside the premises of the Gyanvapi Mosque, on the ground that it was a Hindu temple and still houses Hindu deities.The Muslim parties have filed an application under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) challenging the maintainability of the suit on ground that the Places of Worship Act of 1991, which was introduced at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, seeks to protect the status of all religious structures as they stood on August 15, 1947.Section 4 of the Act states that the religious character of a place of worship existing on August 15, 1947 shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day. It bars courts from entertaining cases regarding such places of worship. The provision further states that such cases already pending in courts would stand abated.Earlier, a civil court had ordered a survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque by an advocate commissioner. The advocate commissioner had conducted the survey, videographed the same and submitted a report to the civil court.The suit before the civil court was, however, transferred to the District Judge by the Supreme Court.The Hindu parties then contended before the District Court that without taking into account the survey report, the maintainability of the suit cannot be decided, since the nature of the religious structure is the subject matter of the dispute.