High Court directs Mathura court to decide on plaint by Hindu side on Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi [Read Order]

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court has on Monday directed the Mathura court to decide a suit filed by the Hindu side for removing the alleged encroachment on 13.37 acres of land at Katra Keshav Dev, considered as birthplace of Lord Krishna.

A single bench of Justice Prakash Padia rejected a contention by the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and Trust Shahi Masjid Idgah against the judgement and order by the Mathura's District Judge which had on May 19, 2022 set aside a decision by the Civil Judge (senior division) on September 30, 2020 that had declined to entertain a suit by the Hindu side -- claiming the title over the entire land -- on ground of maintainability.

The High Court noted that the trial court wrongly treated the suit as miscellaneous case, and decided a question of maintainability of the suit which is not permissible in law.

"There is no provision in Civil Procedure Code to register any regular suit as a miscellaneous Case. The Plaintiffs had not filed any application which could be treated as a miscellaneous case," it said, adding the Civil Judge (SD), has not even exercised its powers under order 7 Rule 11 of the CPC.

"The Trial Court therefore clearly committed manifest error of law in registering the suit as a miscellaneous case and hearing it on the question of maintainability," the High Court said.

The High Court disposed of both the petitions and remanded the matter back to the Trial Court with directions to adjudicate the Civil Suit after following due procedure as per law without being influenced by any observation or findings of the District Judge made in the order of May 19, 2022.

It also noted that the suit has now been registered and summons have already been issued by the trial court on May 26, 2022 for filing the respective written statements and framing of issues.

"All the parties are free to raise all their contentions before the trial Court," it said.

The High Court did not agree to a contention by senior advocate W H Khan on behalf of the Muslim side that the District Judge should not have entertained the matter as revision petition would lie before this court since the valuation of plaint was of Rs 42.26 lakh.

The petitioners also objected the District Judge's findings given on merits of the matter.

Senior advocate Garima Prashad, appearing for the UP government, opposed the submission stating question of pecuniary jurisdiction was never raised before the District Judge and first time referred to before the High Court in the plea filed under Article 227 of the Constitution.

She said the stay order granted in the matter should be vacated and the trial court should be directed to proceed in accordance with the law.

"It is well settled that if an appeal has been filed against an order or decree against which no appeal is maintainable, the Court can treat the appeal as revision," the HC said while adding, the parties participated in revision proceedings before the District Judge over several hearings and raised all their contentions.

"No objection was raised as to the lack of pecuniary jurisdiction before the District judge in revision proceedings and this issue cannot be permitted to be raised by the Petitioners for the first time before this Court in jurisdiction under Article 227," the bench said.

The court also pointed out it is noteworthy to mention that in the plaint, the valuation of the suit is stated as Rs 20 lakh and as per the provisions of Section 115 of CPC r/w Chapter II of Civil Laws Uttar Pradesh (Amendment) Act 2019 the revision u/s 115 of CPC upto Rs 25 lakh would lie before the District Judge.

On May 19, 2022, the Mathura district court had declared a plea seeking to remove the Shahi Idgah Masjid from the complex it shares with the Katra Keshav Dev Temple here is admissible.

The lower court which had earlier dismissed the plea is now bound to hear it.

The plea was originally filed in the lower court -- the court of civil judge senior division -- on September 25, 2020 by Lucknow-resident Ranjana Agnihotri, ane others as the "next friend of Bhagwan Sri Krishna Virajman".

They had claimed in the plea that Shahi Idgah Masjid is constructed on a part of 13.37 acre land belonging to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust. They had demanded the mosque be removed and the land returned to the Trust. However, the civil judge senior division had rejected the suit on September 30, 2020 as non-admissible.

[Read Order]