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Synopsis

The Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court on Tuesday dismissed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking establishment of a committee/panel headed by a retired or sitting judge of the Supreme Court or a high court to ascertain the truth regarding the structure found in the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi.

The bench comprising Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi said that although having been styled as a ‘Public Interest Litigation', the plea did not contain any mention of any legally enforceable right of the public at large having been infringed or denied. "It appears that the petition has been filed merely in order to gain some publicity," it said. 

Moreover, regarding oral application of the petitoners' counsel  for issuance of a certificate for filing an appeal before the Supreme Court under Article 134-A (b) read with Article 133 (1) (a) & (b) of the Constitution of India, Court held, 

"The subject matter of the writ petition is already the subject matter of various suits filed before the Civil Court at Varanasi....We have decided the writ petition after taking into consideration and relying upon the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on the points involved in the writ petition. Therefore, in our considered opinion, the matter does not involve any such question as may warrant issuance of a certificate for filing an appeal before the Hon’ble Supreme Court."

Accordingly, Court rejected the prayer for grant of the certificate.

Further, on the issue of ascertaining the nature of the structure found at Gyanvapi, Court said that the concerned structure was found during local inspection of the Gyanvapi site under orders passed by the Civil Judge (Senior Division), Varanasi, and in pursuance of Supreme Court's order, trial and all interlocutory and ancillary proceedings in the suit are pending before the District Judge, Varanasi.

"Keeping into consideration the aforesaid facts, we are of the considered opinion that it is not proper on the part of the petitioners to invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court by filing a Public Interest Litigation seeking a relief regarding the subject matter, which is already the subject matter of the pending suits as also of the aforesaid Special Leave Petition," Court held. 

Importantly, an objection was also raised to the maintainability of the Writ Petition on the ground of lack of territorial jurisdiction by the Chief Standing Counsel for the State. 

To this, petitioners' counsel had argued that in the past he had filed a Writ Petition in the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench regarding Ram Setu situated in the State of Tamil Nadu and that Writ Petition had been entertained without any objection regarding territorial jurisdiction.

Court, however, opined that this submission forwarded by the petitioners' counsel was too vague to warrant any consideration. 

"He has not submitted copy of any judgment which can be treated as a binding precedent. He has not even cared to give any particulars of the judgment e.g. the number of the case or the date of its decision. In absence of a copy or the particulars of the judgment having been produced before this Court, we cannot ascertain as to whether the point of territorial jurisdiction was raised in that Writ Petition," Court said and rejection this contention. 

The PIL was filed stating that it has been claimed by the Hindu side that the structure found during a videography survey of the complex is a Shivlinga, however,  the mosque committee members have claimed it to be a part of the water fountain mechanism in the 'wazookhana' reservoir. Therefore, the true nature of the structure must be ascertained, it stated. 

The PIL plea was filed by Sarve Sri Sudhir Singh, Baba Balak Das, Shivendra Pratap Singh, and Markande Tiwari, and Rajan Rai, Ravi Mishra and Atul Kumar claiming themselves to be devotees of Lord Shiva.

Case Title: Sudhir Singh And 6 Others v. Union Of Bharat and 3 Others