Prayagraj | The Allahabad High Court on Thursday ruled that the trial in 18 cases related to the Krishna Janmabhoomi-Shahi Idgah dispute in Mathura can continue, dismissing a petition filed by the mosque committee that challenged the maintainability of these suits.

Justice Mayank Kumar Jain had on June 6 reserved his judgment on the plea moved by the Muslim side. The court has now fixed August 12 as the date for framing of issues.

The suits filed by Hindu litigants seek "removal" of the Shahi Idgah mosque adjacent to the Krishna Janmabhoomi temple.

The petitions claim that the Aurangazeb-era mosque was built after the demolition of a temple that marked the spot where Lord Krishna was born.

But the mosque management committee and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board argued that the suits were barred under Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibits changing the religious status of any shrine from what existed on the day of the country's Independence.

However, the 1991 law had exempted the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute from its purview.

Hindu side counsel Vishnu Shankar Jain told reporters that with the dismissal of the plea challenging maintainability, the high court will continue to hear all related cases on the temple-mosque issue.

Jain also said the Hindu side will now move the Supreme Court asking it to vacate its stay on an earlier Allahabad High Court order that had allowed a survey of the mosque.

The Hindu side claims the mosque holds signs suggesting that it was a temple once.

On May 31, the Allahabad High Court reserved its judgment on the maintainability plea after hearing both sides.

However, the court reopened the hearing at the request of Shahi Idgah counsel Mehmood Pracha. The judgment was finally reserved on June 6.

In several ways, the Mathura dispute mirrors the legal tussle in Varanasi, where the Gyanvapi mosque and the Kashi Vishwanath temple are located next to each other.