"Allahabad High Court Chief Justice, Pritinker Diwaker, has issued an order explaining the rationale behind transferring cases related to the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi land title dispute from a single-judge, Justice Prakash Padia, who had been overseeing the matter since 2021 under the case name 'Anjuman Intazamia Masazid Varanasi v Ist ADJ Varanasi & Ors.' Chief Justice Diwaker's decision, as outlined in the order dated August 28, was motivated by considerations of judicial propriety, discipline, and transparency in case listing.
In the order, Chief Justice Diwaker noted that Justice Prakash Padia had continued to preside over the cases for over two years, despite no longer having jurisdiction over the matter according to the court's roster. This was due to the non-observance of procedural norms in listing and hearing cases, including the repeated reserving of judgments and relisting of cases by Justice Padia without following the proper procedures. The Chief Justice's attention was drawn to these irregularities following a complaint made on July 27, 2023, on the administrative side.
The dispute in question pertains to the validity of a suit filed by Hindu parties claiming ownership of the Gyanvapi compound, where the Gyanvapi mosque is currently situated.
Chief Justice Diwaker also stated in the August 28 order that the matter would be scheduled for fresh hearings starting from September 12, 2023.
The management committee associated with the Gyanvapi mosque, known as the Anjuman Intazamia Masazid, Varanasi, expressed concerns over this decision. They pointed out that Justice Padia had already presided over the matter on at least 75 occasions before setting a date for the pronouncement of judgment on August 28. Despite this, the cases were administratively removed from Justice Padia's jurisdiction by the Chief Justice for a new hearing.
The Anjuman Intazamia Masazid argued that this administrative move was inappropriate and should be reversed. However, Chief Justice Diwaker declined to reverse the decision, citing the procedural irregularities in how the matter had been handled by Justice Padia's bench, given his limited jurisdiction as per the court's roster.
Chief Justice Diwaker emphasized the importance of adhering to procedural norms in the disposition of cases to maintain public trust in the justice system. He decided to keep the objections raised by the petitioners (the mosque management committee) on record and scheduled the matter for a hearing on September 12, 2023.
Senior Advocate SFA Naqvi, along with advocates Puneet Kumar Gupta and Syed Ahmed Faizan, represented the petitioners (the mosque management committee), while advocates Ajay Kumar Singh, Vijai Shankar Rastogi, MC Chaturvedi, Kunal Ravi Singh, Vijay Shanker Mishra, Hare Ram Tripathi, Ankit Gaur, Vineet Sankalp, Shashi Prakash Singh, Manoj Kumar Singh, Ved Mani Tiwari, and Sudarshan Singh represented the respondents (Hindu parties)."
Click Here to: Download/View Related File
TAGS: Allahabad High Court Chief Justice Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi title dispute single-judge Justice Prakash Padia administrative judicial propriety transparency jurisdiction procedural irregularities Anjuman Intazamia Masazid Varanasi August 28 order Hindu parties Gyanvapi compound mosque management committee procedural observance hearing September 12 2023 senior advocate petitioners respondents.
