Gyanvapi dispute | Now, masjid panel too seeks removal of Vishnu Shankar Jain over ‘conflict’
The Hindu
This comes a day after one of the Hindu plaintiffs went to court against Mr. Jain appearing for them
As the district court in Varanasi continued hearing the ongoing Gyanvapi mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple civil dispute, the Muslim side on Wednesday filed an application seeking that advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, one of the lawyers leading the Hindu side, should be barred from appearing for the plaintiffs given his conflict of interest because of his position as Standing Counsel for U.P. government in the Supreme Court.
This came a day after one of the five original plaintiffs in the suits, Rakhi Singh, filed a similar application before district judge A.K. Vishvesha, alleging conflict of interest on the part of Mr. Jain. This application came a month after the split among the Hindu plaintiffs first appeared in May. Ms. Singh’s uncle, Jitender Singh Visen, claiming to hold the power of attorney for her, had announced at the end of May that they would no longer be engaging Mr. Jain, his father and their team in the case.
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Advocate Raees Ahmed Ansari, one of the lawyers for the masjid panel, told The Hindu, “We received a copy of the application filed by Ms. Singh and filed our own application seeking that Vishnu Shankar Jain be barred from appearing for the plaintiffs in the suit in light of his position as a government lawyer.”
Senior Advocate Mumtaz Ahmed, part of the masjid panel’s legal team, added, “He (Mr. Jain) cannot be a government lawyer and appear against the government in a suit. This falls under malpractice and we intend to file a complaint with the Bar Council also about this.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Jain had told The Hindu, “There is no conflict,” adding that he had secured a no objection certificate from the UP government on June 15 to be able to appear for the plaintiffs in this suit.
These developments came as Mr. Jain and his father Hari Shankar Jain on Wednesday continued arguments opposing the masjid panel’s application under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, seeking a dismissal of the suit on maintainability.
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