Apex Court Refuses To Delete Word 'Temple' From Its Order Directing Municipal Council To Retain Key Of Entrance Gate Of Jalgaon Jumma Masjid

The Supreme Court, today, refused to modify the order directing the Jalgaon Municipal Council to keep the keys to both the front and the back gates and to open the gates of the Jalgaon Jumma Masjid throughout the day for the worshippers to offer namaz.

An Application was filed by the original Petitioner-Jalgaon Jumma Masjid, in a disposed of Special Leave Petition seeking to modify the order passed by the Court on April 19, 2024, to remove the word 'Temple' from its observations.

The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan ordered, "Learned Senior Counsel seeks and permitted to withdraw the miscellaneous application, with the liberty to file a review petition."

Senior Advocate Devadutt Kamat for the Applicant submitted, "This is a prayer for modification."

Justice Kant, "It is a consent order, passed in the presence of the parties. See para 5."

Kamat submitted, "Please see para 4, there is some problem...It was observed that there is a temple...After this order, new incidents have started. Your Lordships have said that it is a temple."

Justice Kant, "Tell me what incidents...Please see para 5...I remember this as I dictated in an open court after your counsels agreed...We are saying temples or other temples, now this word has been used three times in the Order, in the presence of your counsel."

Kamat further said, "Starting from the beginning there is no evidence whether it is a temple."

Justice Kant, "Then you should have pointed out to us. In the High Court order, it was there, in our order it was there, it should have been mentioned by the Counsel."

Kamat added, "It was a mistake on our side, otherwise there is no evidence on record. Your Lordships' observation is the end of the story."

The Counsel then sought permission from the Court to withdraw the application and to file a review petition.

While disposing of a Special Leave Petition against the judgment of the Bombay High Court, the Apex Court directed, "(i) The key of the main entrance gate of the entire compound shall remain with the Municipal Council. (ii) There shall be status quo with regard to the Masjid compound and the same shall be under the management and control of the Wakfs Board or the appellant-Committee with the consent of the Wakfs Board till further orders. (iii) The ingress and egress to other temples or monuments in the main compound shall be free from all types of hindrances and the people of other religions and/or public at large shall be allowed to visit the other ancient monuments/temples without any disturbance. (iv) The key of the rear side gate shall also remain with the Municipal Council, however, it shall be the duty and responsibility of the Municipal Council to depute an official to open that gate well before the time for Namaz starts in the morning and till all the Namaz are performed through the day. (v) The keys shall be handed over to the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Officer of the Municipal Council during the course of the day. (vi) However, no encroachment of any type shall be made by any of the parties."

By the impugned judgment, the Bombay High Court had directed the Jumma Masjid to hand over the keys to the Chief Officer Municipal Council, Erandol on or before April 13, 2024. A complaint was filed by the Pandavwada Sangharsh Samiti (PSS), claiming that the mosque is a temple and accused the Muslim community of the encroachments, therefore, the District Magistrate passed an order restriction the entry of people into the disputed mosque, which was challenged before the High Court.

The High Court in July 2023 had granted a stay on the execution of the order passed by the District Magistrate, Jalgaon restricting people to enter the allegedly disputed mosque to offer namaz. While issuing the notice, the Court further directed the District Magistrate to hand over the key of the Jumma Masjid to the President of the Jumma Masjid Trust Committee.

Cause Title: Jumma Masjid Trust Committee v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. (MA 1433/2024 in Crl. A. No. 2147/2024/Diary No. 32602 / 2024)