Karnataka court allows survey of mosque to check for temple

A court in Mangaluru on Wednesday ruled that the suit seeking the appointment of a commissioner to survey the Malali mosque to ascertain whether it was built on a Hindu temple, was maintainable.

It will therefore hear the suit from January 2023.

The original suit was filed by T A Dhananjaya and B A Manoj Kumar from Mangaluru before the third additional civil court.

It is argued that remnants of a structure resembling a temple were found, when the Assayed Abdullahi Madani mosque in Malali, Thenka Ulipady village, near Mangaluru, was being demolished for renovation in April this year.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had also sought a survey of the mosque in the same case.

The mosque authorities however claimed that it was waqf property and therefore such a request was not maintainable.

They also filed an application challenging the maintainability of such a suit.

The civil court on Wednesday that the suit was maintainable and it will proceed with the hearing.

The court had earlier stayed the renovation work, while the suit was pending.

It also rejected the application of the Mosque authorities to vacate the stay on the renovation work they are carrying out in the mosque.

Dhananjaya and Kumar had approached the high court of Karnataka stating the lower court should appoint the commissioner instead of hearing arguments about the maintainability of the suit.

The HC on July 16 this year held that the lower court had the powers to hear and decide on the maintainability of the suit.

The suit will be next heard on January 8, 2023.