The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear the plea of the Muslim side challenging an Allahabad High Court order on the maintainability of the lawsuits for the restoration of the temple. The court tagged the plea with other pending matters on the dispute.

“We will tag this with the main case,” a bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said.

The Allahabad high court had dismissed a batch of petitions filed by the Muslim side, which contested the maintainability of the civil suit. The High Court had held that a civil suit seeking the restoration of a temple, pending before a Varanasi court, is maintainable.

The High Court had said that the religious character of a disputed place can only be decided by the court. The Muslim side had argued against the maintainability of the suit. They contended that the suit was barred under the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.