Gyanvapi Dispute: Varanasi District Judge Consolidates All Pending Suits In Order To Hear Them All Together

A Varanasi Court on Tuesday granted an application moved before it seeking to consolidate eight Gyanvapi-related petitions pending before various courts. Now, the district judge’s court will now hear all of these cases together.

District Judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha passed this decision today after observing that all matters should be tried and consolidated together.

“I am of the opinion that it will be expedient in the interests of justice that all of the suits mentioned above…should be tried together and may be consolidated, and all of these suits and proceedings shall be decided upon the evidence in any of such suits or proceedings, and Civil Suit No.693/2021 (New Number O.S. No.-18/2022) Smt. Rakhi Singh and others Versus State of U.P. and others shall be the leading case and evidence shall be recorded in the leading case,” the District Judge’s Court stated.

The order was passed in accordance with Section 4A CPC [as inserted by Uttar Pradesh Act 57 of 1976], which states that when two or more suits or proceedings are pending in the same court, and the court believes that it is expedient in the interest of justice, it may, by order, direct their joint trial, whereupon all such suits and proceedings may be decided upon the evidence in all or any of such suits or proceedings.

Importantly, the District Judge considered the Supreme Court’s order of November 11, 2022, in which it had observed that if an application is made before the District Judge, Varanasi, in respect of similar suits, it is up to the District Judge to determine whether consolidation of those suits is warranted.

Plaintiffs 2 to 5 (Laxmi Devi, Sita Sahu, Manju Vyas, and Rekha Pathak) filed a plea in suit no. 18/2022 to transfer cases involving the Gyanvapi Dispute to the Court of District Judge. It was their argument that because all of these suits were of similar type, they should be tried jointly to save the public time and money and to avoid legal issues.

It should be recalled that suit number. 18/2022 was filed last year by 5 Hindu woman worshippers seeking year-long access to pray at a Hindu shrine behind the western wall of Varanasi’s Gyanvapi Mosque complex.

Six of the seven cases are pending before the civil judge’s (senior division) court, while one is pending in the civil judge’s (senior division) fast-track court.

It is worth noting that the case before the Fast Track Court was filed by Lord Vishweshwar Virajman (Swayambhu) through his next-friend Kiran Singh, who is the international general secretary of Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh (VVSS), and it seeks to transfer possession of the Gyanvapi Mosque premises to ‘Lord Adi Vishweshwar Virajman.

Kiran Singh is the first petitioner in action no. 18/2022; however, after filing the said suit, she split ways with the other four female plaintiffs (represented by Advocate Hari Shnakar Jain) in May 2022 due to disagreements. She then filed a fresh suit, which is currently pending before the Fast Track Court. Significantly, the FTC found the said suit to be maintainable in November of last year.