The Varanasi district court rejected the plea questioning the maintainability of a petition seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are located on an outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque.
District Judge A.K. Vishvesh ordered that it would continue to hear the petition seeking the right to worship deities on the outer wall of the mosque complex located close to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The court fixed September 22 as the next date of hearing in the case. Merajuddin Siddiqui, the advocate representing the Muslim side, said that they will move the Allahabad High Court against the judgement.
The district judge delivered a 26-page order in 10 minutes in the presence of restricted 32 persons inside the courtroom, including lawyers of the two sides and plaintiffs, said an advocate who was present in the courtroom.
In the order, the judge said, “In view of the discussions and analysis, I have come to the conclusion that the suit of the plaintiffs is not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991, The Waqf Act, 1995 and UP Sri Kashi Vishwanath Temple Act, 1983, and the application 35C filed by the defendant no. 4 (Anjuman Intezamia) is liable to be dismissed.” Five women had filed the petition seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are claimed to be located on an outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee has said the Gyanvapi mosque is a Waqf property and questioned the maintainability of the plea. The district judge had on August 24 reserved the order till September 12 in the communally sensitive matter. Vishnu Jain, an advocate representing the Hindu side, told reporters that the court rejected the application of the Muslim side. “Their (Muslim side) plea regarding the Place of Worship Act was rejected by the court. The court said that the suit is maintainable, and the next hearing in the matter is on September 22,” he said.
The Allahabad High Court on Monday fixed September 28 as the next date of hearing in a case pertaining to a petition filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid of Varanasi challenging the maintainability of an original suit filed in 1991 in the Varanasi district court.
The original suit has sought the restoration of the ancient Kashi Vishwanath temple at the site where the Gyanvapi mosque currently stands. The petitioners claimed in the suit that the mosque is a part of the temple.
As the news about the court order was spread, some people who had gathered outside the court here rejoiced by distributing sweets. On May 20, the Supreme Court transferred the civil suit filed by Hindu devotees on Gyanvapi mosque from civil judge (senior division) to district judge, Varanasi, saying looking at the complexities and sensitivity of the issue, it is better if a senior judicial officer having an experience of over 25-30 years handles this case.
In an important observation, the top court also said that the process to ascertain the religious character of a place of worship is not barred under the Places of Worship Act of 1991. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and P. S. Narasimha said it will be better if a district judge handles the case and made it clear that it is not casting any aspersion on the civil judge (senior division) who was earlier dealing with the suit.
The district administration had issued prohibitory order under Section 144 of CrPC in Varanasi since Sunday in view of the court order on a sensitive issue.
The district court in Varanasi pronounced on September 12 that the plea of five Hindu women seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities is maintainable in the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri case.
The Varanasi court dismissed Order VII, Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) application filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee challenging the maintainability of the suit filed by the five Hindu women seeking the right to pray inside the Gyanvapi mosque premises all-year round. It held that the suit is maintainable and worth being tried.
Five women had filed the petition seeking permission for daily worship of Hindu deities whose idols are said to be located on an outer wall of the Gyanvapi mosque.
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee has said the Gyanvapi mosque is a Waqf property and has questioned the maintainability of the plea.
Madan Mohan Yadav, a lawyer of the Hindu side, had said that the mosque was constructed after demolishing the temple. The case is being heard by the district court following an apex court order.
Earlier, a lower court had ordered a videography survey of the complex. The survey work was completed on May 16 and the report was presented in the court on May 19.
The Hindu side had claimed in the lower court that a Shivling was found during the videography survey of the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex but it was contested by the Muslim side.
All petitions challenging CAA to be heard on October 31 by three-judge Supreme Court Bench
The Supreme Court fixed the hearing in 220 petitions challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019 on October 31 and said it will refer the case to a three-judge Bench.
The petitions came up before a Bench of Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit and S. Ravindra Bhat on September 12 after a hiatus of many months. The hearing of the case was interrupted by the pandemic.
Chief Justice Lalit asked the parties, including the Centre, to draw a “road map” highlighting the issues involved in the case, their division into various segments and the formulation of questions of law.
Lawyers said petitions linking the CAA with the Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) ought to be a different segment of its own and heard separately.
The CAA fast-tracks the citizenship-by-naturalisation process for “illegal migrants” from six religious communities, other than Muslims, who have fled persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The Act and its implementation had seen ordinary citizens, including students, professionals, and mothers, protest across the country. Police action on the protestors had drawn heavy criticism.
The government had maintained that the amendments made to the Citizenship Act of 1955 was meant to protect and welcome religiously persecuted people fleeing the three neighbouring countries where Muslims form the majority.
The apex court had earlier issued a formal notice admitting the petitions filed by people from all walks of life and faiths, from parliamentarians to retired High Commissioners and service officers to lawyers, students, activists, professional associations to Opposition political parties, cutting across regions and ideology and NGOs.
The petitions have argued that the law welcomes “illegal migrants” into India selectively on the basis of their religion and pointedly excludes Muslims. It has an “unholy nexus” with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise and is against principles of secularism, right to equality and dignity of life enshrined in the Basic Structure of the Constitution, the petitions said.
The petitions said the Act selectively agrees to grant citizenship benefits to illegal migrants from only three countries. Besides, the new law does not impose any requirement on illegal migrants to prove their claim of religious persecution or even a reasonable fear of it. The petitions have argued that the legislation effectuates discrimination on the basis of the intrinsic and core identity of an individual, that is, his religious identity as a Muslim. While Muslim migrants would have to show their proof of residency in India for at least 11 years, the law allows illegal migrants from the six communities to be naturalised in five years time.
Ashok Gehlot flags Amit Shah’s ‘₹80,000 muffler’ after BJP’s swipe at Rahul Gandhi over T-shirt price
Hitting back at BJP over its T-shirt barb at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on September 12 claimed that Home Minister Amit Shah’s muffler costs ₹80,000 while saffron party leaders wear sunglasses worth ₹2.5 lakh.
The Rajasthan Chief Minister said the BJP is worried because the Bharat Jodo yatra is getting an “extraordinary response” from people.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. | Photo Credit: PTI
“What problems do they have with the Bharat Jodo Yatra? They are talking about Rahul Gandhi’s T-shirt while they themselves wear sunglasses of ₹2.5 lakh and muffler of ₹80,000. The price of the muffler which the home minister wears is ₹80,000,” Gehlot told reporters in Churu.
“They (BJP) are doing politics on T-shirts,” he added. Gehlot said the public response to the yatra was extraordinary and the BJP leaders were perturbed. “Prime minister, home minister and other leaders are leaving their work and attacking Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
The BJP on Friday took a dig at Rahul Gandhi by suggesting that he was wearing a T-shirt costing over ₹41,000 during the Bharat Jodo Yatra which started from Kanyakumari last week.
Retail inflation inches up to 7% in August led by food price rise
India’s retail inflation resurged to 7% in August, from a five-month low of 6.71% in July, led by pick-up in food price rise faced by consumers to 7.62% from 6.73% in the previous month.
Rural inflation, which was at 6.8% in July, saw a sharper rise than urban inflation in August, rising to 7.15%. Urban consumers’ inflation rate moved up from 6.49% in July to 6.72% in August.
This is the eighth successive month that retail inflation has stayed above the central bank’s upper tolerance threshold of 6% inflation for the economy, and constitutes a setback to households’ spending power among the poorer sections of the population.
The uptick in inflation from July’s level was largely driven by a broad-based rise across the food segment, with a higher inflation in cereals, pulses, milk, fruits, veggies and prepared meals and snacks, said ICRA chief economist Aditi Nayar.
Inflation in cereals rose further from 6.9% in July to 9.6% in August, while Vegetables inflation, which had eased to a still-high level of 10.9% in July reversed trend to record a 13.23% uptick in August.
August’s inflation rise was driven largely by domestic causes, especially the uneven monsoon and its adverse impact on food prices, noted D.K. Srivastava, chief policy advisor at EY India. He cautioned that household budgets would be affected, particularly among lower income segments, as food and related items take up a higher share of their consumption basket.
“While the underlying pressures on inflation have persisted due to continuing high levels of global crude prices and supply-side constraints, inter-month volatility is due to domestic developments,” he said.
With kharif crop sowing “increasingly unlikely” to touch last year’s levels, food inflation could remain a problem even though healthy reservoir levels augur well for timely rabi sowing, said Nayar.
A rebound in demand for services also lifted miscellaneous and housing inflation, and is likely to persist, she said, reckoning retail inflation could rise further to 7.1% in September. The RBI has estimated a 7.1% inflation rate for the July to September quarter.
10 of 22 major States recorded inflation over 7%, with West Bengal recording the highest price rise at 8.94% in August. Gujarat’s inflation rate also shot past the 8% mark at 8.22% in August from 7.85% in July, while Telangana’s price rise dropped marginally from 8.58% in July to 8.11% in August.
Maharashtra recorded higher inflation than July at 7.99% in August, while Madhya Pradesh (7.83%), Assam (7.73%), Haryana (7.71%) and Uttar Pradesh at 7.62%, were some of the other States seeing the highest price rise during the month.
In Brief:
India may need additional up to 28GW of coal-fired power generation capacity by 2032, apart from the 25GW thermal projects that are under construction, said a report by advisory body Central Electricity Authority (CEA). “It is seen that apart from under construction coal-based capacity of 25GW, the additional coal-based capacity required till 2031-32 may vary from 17 GW to around 28 GW,” CEA said in a draft national electricity plan. The CEA put up the ‘Draft National Electricity Plan (Vol-I Generation)‘ for feedback of stakeholders on September 8, 2022. As per the Electricity Act, 2003, CEA has to prepare the National Electricity Plan once in five years.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
