The Allahabad High Court has directed a Varanasi court to decide within eight weeks an application seeking unrestricted right to worship a 'shivling' purportedly found inside the Gyanvapi mosque premises in May 2022.

On May 16, 2022, during a court-ordered survey of the Gyanvapi premises adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, a structure found in the wazukhana area was claimed to be a 'shivling' by the Hindu side and a 'fountain' by the Muslim side.

Justice Manish Kumar Nigam passed the order on a plea filed by Vivek Soni and another person who had approached the high court requesting speedy disposal of their interim application pending before the civil judge (senior division) in Varanasi since 2022.

The application has been moved during pendency of the suit seeking a permanent injunction against the Anjuman Intezamia Masajid restraining it to interfere in the worship of the alleged 'shivling'.

In the suit filed in 2022, plaintiffs have sought a permanent injunction against the mosque committee and others to prevent any interference in the offering of prayers to the alleged 'shivling'.

While disposing of the plea, the high court in its order dated February 27 observed, "Accordingly, the present petition stands disposed of finally with a direction to the Civil Judge (Senior Division) Varanasi to consider and decide the interim injunction application (6C Application), in accordance with law, expeditiously preferably within a period of eight weeks from the date of production of a certified copy of this order after giving opportunity of hearing to the parties concerned and without granting unnecessary adjournments to either of the parties provided that there is no other legal impediment."

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