Atala mosque case not taken up by court

Prayagraj: A petition filed by the management committee of Atala mosque in Jaunpur, challenging a local court's order that directed the registration of a suit in which it was claimed that the mosque was originally an ancient Hindu temple (Atala Devi temple), was not taken up by the court on Monday.The case was supposed to be heard by the single bench of Justice Rohit Ranjan Agarwal. Since his bench did not convene today, the case was transferred to the court of Justice Salil Kumar Rai, but it could not take up the matter due to paucity of time.The next date for the hearing has not been fixed yet.Earlier, the high court had directed the respondent Hindu side to file a reply within three weeks in response to the petition filed by the management committee of Atala mosque by which it had challenged a local court's order that directed the registration of a suit in which it was claimed that the mosque was originally an ancient Hindu temple.The court had also directed the Swaraj Vahini Association (SVA) and Santosh Kumar Mishra, who were plaintiffs in the suit, to file their reply within three weeks and had directed the petitioner to file a rejoinder affidavit within a week.The suit was filed before the Jaunpur court by SVA and one Santosh Kumar Mishra seeking a declaration that the disputed property was ‘Atala Devi Mandir' and followers of the Sanatan religion have the right of worship therein.They had also prayed for the possession of the disputed property and sought a mandatory injunction to restrain non-Hindus from entering the property.Further, the plaintiffs had also sought permission to sue under Order 1 Rule 8 CPC in a representative capacity. This prayer was allowed in May this year by the impugned order, and the same was upheld by an order of the district judge in Aug this year. Both the orders were challenged in the petition before the HC.The management committee of the Atala masjid had pleaded before the HC that the plaint was defective, as the plaintiff, a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, was not a juristic person and, thus, was not competent to file the suit in a representative capacity. Further, society's bylaws do not authorize it to engage in litigation of this nature.
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