New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered that status quo be maintained till August 25 in the Sambhal mosque dispute and issued notice to the Hindu petitioners.
A bench of Justices P S Narasimha and A S Chandurkar passed the direction while hearing a petition filed by the mosque committee challenging an Allahabad High Court order that upheld a survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid and Harihar Temple complex.
The high court had ruled that both the civil suit and the appointment of a court commissioner for the survey were legally valid. The mosque committee, however, had approached the high court against the November 19 order of a Sambhal civil judge directing the survey of the Mughal-era mosque, which was carried out the same day.
The committee also contended that a second survey conducted on November 24 last year was unlawful, as no such order had been passed by the civil court.