Lucknow, May 16 (PTI) The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday asked petitioners their locus standi (right to sue) to file a plea challenging the local administration's order restraining the alleged mela committee from organising Urs on the dargah of Sayed Salar Masood Gazi in Bahraich.
Granting time to the petitioners, the bench has set May 19 for the next hearing.
A bench of Justices A R Masoodi and A K Srivastava (Ist) passed the order on the writ petition filed by Waqf Number 19 Dargah Sharif, Bahraich.
The bench asked the petitioners to prove their right to sue in the present case and then only it would hear the plea on merit.
The petitioners' senior lawyer L P Mishra tried to convince the bench that it was not an issue in the petition. He said the issue was that if the Kumbh could be organised, why this Urs could not be allowed.
He stressed that the state government is discriminating on the basis of religion and it is a violation of the right to profess religion under Article 25 of the Constitution of India.
The bench, however, clarified to the petitioners' counsel Mishra that it is the right of the court to first be satisfied as to whether the petition is maintainable on behalf of the petitioners or not.
"Without being satisfied with this aspect, we will not proceed further", the bench added.
Seeing a tight view of the bench, Mishra asked the bench to fix Saturday for the next hearing and he will place the necessary documents to satisfy the court.
But the bench refused to fix Saturday as it was a holiday. It permitted Mishra to move a proper application before the chief justice in this regard because only he can constitute special benches on holidays.