The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the carbon dating of the Shivling-like figure found in the Gyanvapi campus of Varanasi and the scientific survey of the entire campus till the next hearing. The Allahabad High Court had on May 12 ordered carbon dating of the Shivling-like structure using modern techniques. After this, the Gyanvapi Masjid Management Committee challenged this order in the Supreme Court. Officials of the mosque committee say that this structure is part of a fountain in the Wudu Khana built in the mosque premises.

 

A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud issued notice to the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh government and the Hindu petitioners on the mosque committee's plea against the High Court order for scientific survey and carbon dating of the Shivling-like figure.

A three-judge bench hearing the matter said that the implications of the impugned order have to be examined closely. Therefore, the implementation of the related instructions in the order of Allahabad High Court will be postponed till the next hearing. Along with this, the Supreme Court has postponed the hearing of the Gyanvapi case till August 7. Till then the ban on carbon dating will continue. Both the Center and the Uttar Pradesh government have agreed to the petition to postpone the scientific survey, including carbon dating, of the Shivalinga figure at Gyanvapi.

Before a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala, Huzefa Ahmadi, counsel for Gyanvapi Masjid Management Committee, told that the Allahabad High Court has passed the order pending appeal. After hearing Huzefa's submissions, the bench agreed to hear the petition.

Earlier in the hearing, a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala took note of the submissions of senior advocate Huzaifa Ahmadi, appearing for the Gyanvapi Masjid Management Committee, and agreed to list the petition for hearing on Friday. Had expressed

The appeal filed against the Allahabad High Court order is pending, Ahmadi said. The Allahabad High Court had on May 12 ordered the use of state-of-the-art technology to determine the age of a structure found in the Gyanvapi mosque, which is being claimed to be a 'Shivling'.

The High Court had set aside the order of the Varanasi district court, under which the petition had been rejected seeking to conduct other scientific tests, including carbon dating, of the structure found during the survey conducted in the Gyanvapi mosque complex in May 2022. The High Court had directed the District Judge of Varanasi to proceed as per the law on the request of the Hindu side to conduct a scientific survey of the 'Shivling'.