Krishna Janmabhumi Dispute: Allahabad HC Grants Last Chance To Respondents To File Reply In Plea Seeking Transfer Of Pending Suits To HC

The Allahabad High Court today granted a 'last chance' to the respondents in a plea filed before it seeking the transfer of suits pending before the Mathura Court praying for various reliefs pertaining to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah Mosque dispute.The Bench of Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra-I passed this order today weeks after it entertained and agreed to hear a Transfer plea filed by Bhagwan Shrikrishna Virajman And 7 Others seeking the transfer of suits pending in Mathura Court to the HC.Earlier, the respondent parties (being U.P. Sunni Central Waqf Board, Committee of Management Trust, Shahi Masjid, Mathura, Sri Krishna Janambhumi Trust, and Shri Krishna Janamsthan Sewa Sansthan) were given time till Feb 28 to file thier replies.However, on Wednesday, the Court was informed that despite being served sufficiently, and specific order to that effect had been passed on March 2, no one appeared for respondent no.4 (Shri Krishna Janamsthan Sewa Sansthan), the Court passed the following order:"Obviously, it appears that respondent no.4 is not interested in contesting this Transfer Application, therefore, as a measure of last chance respondent no.4 and rest of the respondents (respondent nos.1 to 3) are directed to file counter affidavits if they so wish within a period of ten days from today...It is made clear that matter should not be unnecessarily prolonged which requires expeditious and quick disposal; that being the case, all the respondents are required to exchange their pleadings within the stipulated period as above."With this, the Court posted the matter for further hearing on April 4 as fresh.The Transfer plea before the High CourtThe Transfer plea, filed through Advocates Prabhash Pandey and Pradeep Kumar Sharma has been moved on the ground that the issues involved in the suits pending before the Mathura Court concern crores of devotees of Lord Krishna and the matter is of national importance, hence, the same should be transferred to the HC.It has been further submitted that the substantial questions of law and several questions relating to the interpretation of the Constitution of India which are involved in the suits pending before the Mathura Court can be conveniently decided by the High Court.Hence, it has been prayed that High Court should exercise its powers under Section 24(1)(b) of the Code of Civil Procedure to transfer the pending suits to itself.Alternatively, the plea prays that all the cases may be transferred to one Court and if possible, to the senior most Court of Mathura Judgeship i.e. the Court of District Judge, Mathura for disposal to avoid the possibility of different verdicts of different Courts on similar issues and also for the sake of convenience of the parties.Opposing the plea, the Counsel for the U.P. Sunni Central Waqf Board, Punit Kumar Gupta on Feb 1 argued that the transfer plea is not maintainable and instead, an application under Article 228 of the Constitution should have been moved before the Chief Justice of the High Court for the said purpose.It was also submitted that the applicants alone cannot file transfer applications on behalf of the parties to other cases and they should also be heard in the matter.AppearancesCounsel for Applicant: Prabhash Pandey, Pradeep Kumar Sharma, Vishnu Shankar JainCounsel for Opposite Party: Senior Advocate SFA Naqvi, Punit Kumar Gupta, Nasiruzzaman, Prateek RaiCase title - Bhagwan Shrikrishna Virajman And 7 Others vs. U.P. Sunni Central Waqf Board And 3 Others [TRANSFER APPLICATION (CIVIL) No. - 88 of 2023]Click Here To Read/Download order

Krishna Janmabhumi Dispute: Allahabad HC Grants Last Chance To Respondents To File Reply In Plea Seeking Transfer Of Pending Suits To HC

Sparsh Upadhyay

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