Gyanvapi case: Hindu side raises questions over Waqf Act

Hearing on the plea continued in the court for District Judge Ajay Krishna Vishvesha on the fourth day and the plaintiffs 2 to 5, including Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas and Rekha Pathak concluded their arguments.

The court has now fixed July 18 as the next date of the hearing during which Shivam Gaur, the counsel of plaintiff number 1 Rakhi Singh will make his submissions.

Abhay Nath Yadav, the counsel of the Muslim side, said that the court will resume hearing on Order 7 Rule 11 on Monday.

Vishnu Shankar Jain, the counsel of the Hindu side, said that basically, he raised questions over the validity of the Waqf Act of 1995. "Before the court submissions were made, the Waqf Act and Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 did not apply in this case," he said.

He said that the Muslim side has pointed out that it is a property of Waqf number 100 and is bound by the Waqf Act.

"But there is no gazette notification, it does not bear any date, neither there is an entry in the records and nor there is any document," he said.

It may be noted that during earlier hearings counsels of the Muslim side cited the Deen Mohammad case of 1937 and claimed that the place where the mosque is located on the property is that of the Waqf Board.