A fresh revision petition has been filed in a district court in Uttar Pradesh's Mathura seeking a survey of the Shahi Idgah mosque and verification of claims of signs of a temple at the site.
District Government Counsel Sanjai Gaur said on Tuesday that Additional District Judge Sanjay Chaudhary has set July 8 for the petition's disposal.
Last week, while disposing of a similar application, the Judge Chaudhary had directed a lower court to speedily decide the petition for appointing a court commissioner to survey the Shahi Idgah mosque and verify the claims of temple signs there.
The fresh petition came after the lower court of civil judge (senior division), which is hearing a bunch of suits for the removal of Shahi Idgah Masjid from near the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple, on May 23 fixed the next hearing on July 1 on their application for appointing the survey commissioner.
The petitioners have been seeking an urgent order while expressing appprehension that the evidence of temple structure may be damaged or destroyed.
The judge had decided to hear the matter on the reopening of courts after the summer vacation, instead of passing an order, the counsel for petitioner Dinesh Chandra Sharma, who has now moved the district court, said. Sharma, treasurer of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, is among those who have filed the suits.
The petitioners had claimed in the earlier application that temple signs are present in the mosque, and had also expressed apprehension that the same (marks) may be disfigured, or destroyed by the defendant of the suit, Sharma said.
It has been requested in the revision petition to cancel the order of the lower court and pass an order for the survey, the counsel for the petitioner said.
The lower court is hearing a bunch of suits for the removal of Shahi Idgah Masjid from near the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple in the Katra Keshav Dev Temple complex and subsequent interim applications for appointing a court commissioner to survey the mosque.
The petitioners have sought the mosque's survey, claiming the existence of several signs of temples, like those of "om, swastika and lotus" inside it besides its alleged "Hindu architecture".
The pleas have been filed by deity Thakur Keshav Dev Ji Maharaj virajman (in-situ) in its capacity as a juristic person, represented by advocates Mahendra Pratap Singh and Rajendra Maheshwari as its "next friend", among others.
The other petitioners included United Hindu Front founder Jai Bhagwan Goyal, a Delhi resident, and Vrindavan's Dharm Raksha Sangh president Saurabh Gaur.
The defendants are secretary Intezamia Committee Shahi Masjid Idgah, Mathura, chairman of UP Sunni Central Waqf Board Lucknow, managing trustee of Sri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan Mathura and secretary of Sri Krishna Janmabhumi Trust, Mathura.
(With PTI inputs)
