SC stays Allahabad HC’s order, maintains ‘status quo’ on removal of Mosque on court premises

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed status quo to be maintained on the case pertaining to the removal of the mosque from the premises of Allahabad High Court.

The bench headed by Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta’s directions came against Allahabad High Court’s previous orders which had earlier directed the removal of the mosque situated on the HC’s premises last year.

Arguing for the petitioner – Waqf board, Senior Counsel Kapil Sibal said no progress has been made so far despite SC ‘s directions to UP government to find a solution in the case.

Noting no progress or action has been initiated in the case, the SC issued a notice to the Respondents while also maintained the status quo.

The Allahabad HC’s verdict on November 8 last year was directed by a two-judge Bench of Chief Justice DB Bhosale and Justice MK Gupta who observed:
“the unauthorized possession, as well as the unauthorized structures existing over the site in dispute, cannot be permitted to continue any longer”

The High Court in its judgement observed that the Mosque on HC’s premises is creating hindrance for the movement of fire brigade and that now there is an “acute crunch of space” in the Court it should be removed as soon as possible.

The court further went on to add that due to the increase in the number of Judges there is a shortage of space for which the High Court could not arrange separate chambers for twelve judges, who are sharing six chambers, barandbench.com reports.

Citing the above issues, the HC had directed the Waqf Board to remove the mosque and hand over the possession of the land to the High Court within three months.