“We will list it for hearing on April 21,” it said.

Last year, in November Supreme Court, extended till further orders the protection of the area where a ‘shilling’ was claimed to have been found in Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque complex. Court also allowed the Hindu parties to move an application before the Varanasi district judge for consolidation of all lawsuits filed on the Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri row.

The Supreme Court also directed the Hindu parties to file their replies within three weeks on the appeal by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid committee challenging the Allahabad High Court order on the appointment of a survey commissioner. The mosque committee, however, maintained that the structure was part of the water fountain mechanism at the ‘wazookhana’ reservoir where devotees perform ablutions before offering namaz.

The video survey was ordered by the court of the civil judge (senior division) in Varanasi. The SC transferred the case to the district judge on May 20 last, pointing at the “complexities” and the “sensitivity” of the issue and saying that a more senior judicial officer should handle it.

In its earlier May 17 last year order, the top court had directed protection of the area around the claimed ‘shivling’ while also allowing Muslims to offer namaz in the mosque.

The Varanasi district judge is now hearing the plea by a group of women seeking permission for daily worship of idols of Hindu deities located on the mosque’s outer wall. The Hindu side has also sought a survey of two locked basements in the mosque complex.