The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the plea of the Gyanvapi mosque committee challenging an Allahabad High Court order on the maintainability of the lawsuits for the “restoration” of a temple. The court tagged the plea with other pending matters on the dispute.

“We will tag this with the main case,” a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said.

The Allahabad high court had dismissed a batch of petitions filed by the Muslim side, which contested the maintainability of the civil suit. The court order held that a civil suit seeking the restoration of a temple, pending before a Varanasi court, is maintainable. The HC had said that the “religious character” of a disputed place can only be decided by the court.

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The suit seeks the restoration of a temple at the site where the Gyanvapi mosque currently stands. According to the Hindu side, the mosque is believed to be constructed on the remains of a temple, making it an integral part of the religious structure.

The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, responsible for the management of the Gyanvapi mosque, along with the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board and other parties, had argued against the maintainability of the suit. They contended that the suit was barred under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

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This Act prohibits the alteration of the religious character of holy sites as it stood on the day of India’s independence, with the exception of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site.

The high court had held that the suit filed before the district court is not barred by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which forbids “conversion” of the “religious character” of a place from what existed on August 15, 1947.