A petition in the Supreme Court seeks the transfer of fifteen pending cases concerning the Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque dispute to the Allahabad High Court.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan issued notice on the petition and suggested that the issue of whether High Courts should serve as an appellate forum to review and assess evidence would be examined.

The Bench was hearing an interim application (IA) in an appeal filed by the Muslim parties against the Allahabad High Court's verdict, which upheld a January 31 order from a Varanasi court permitting the Hindu parties to offer prayers in the southern cellar/basement of the Gyanvapi Mosque.

The High Court had observed that it was illegal for the Uttar Pradesh government to have orally ordered a ban on Hindu prayers in 1993.

In April, the Supreme Court had declined to stay the Varanasi court's order and directed the parties to maintain the status quo at the Gyanvapi premises. The Court ruled that, for the time being, the Hindu priest conducting the puja would enter from the southern side and pray in the cellar, while Muslims would pray on the northern side, where they enter.

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, representing one of the parties, argued that transferring the cases to the High Court would help prevent conflicting orders and ensure that a three-judge bench could comprehensively address the matter.

Opposing the transfer, Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi contended that such a move could set a precedent, requiring similar disputes nationwide to be transferred to High Courts, thus overburdening them. He pointed out that issues such as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) survey and disputes over sealed areas of the Gyanvapi complex were already pending in higher courts.

Ahmadi also emphasized that these suits appeared to violate the Places of Worship Act, 1991, which preserves the status quo of religious sites as they stood on August 15, 1947.

The Court ultimately decided to list all related cases for a joint hearing on December 17.

The dispute arises from an ongoing civil court case concerning conflicting claims over the religious nature of the Gyanvapi compound. The Hindu side asserts that Hindu prayers were offered by the family of Somnath Vyas in the Mosque's cellar until 1993, when the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led government allegedly stopped the practice. The Muslim side, however, disputes this, maintaining that Muslims have always had possession of the Mosque.

The core issue revolves around the claim by the Hindu parties that part of an ancient temple was destroyed during the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's rule in the 17th century. The Muslim parties argue that the Mosque predates Aurangzeb’s reign and has undergone various modifications over time.

The Hindu parties’ suit argues that the religious character of the land remained unchanged even after the temple was demolished by Aurangzeb to build the Mosque. They have sought the restoration of the ancient Lord Vishweshwar temple and defended their 1991 suit by asserting that the dispute predates the Places of Worship Act.