The Division Bench of Justice Rajan Rai and Justice Manjive Shukla heard a petition filed by Mohit Ashok seeking directions to the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the alleged theft of donations received by the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in Ayodhya. The Bench observed that the relief sought in the petition mirrors the prayers contained in at least two other petitions that are presently pending before the Supreme Court of India.
The Court noted that entertaining the present petition would result in parallel proceedings on the same subject matter, which could lead to inconsistent orders and unnecessary duplication of judicial effort. The Bench emphasized that when a matter is already sub judice before a higher court, a lower court ought to refrain from passing interlocutory orders that may interfere with the ongoing proceedings.
The Bench further observed that the petitioner did not demonstrate any exceptional circumstance that would justify the Court’s intervention despite the pendency of similar proceedings before the Supreme Court. In the absence of such a showing, the Court held that the petition was not maintainable and disposed of it accordingly.
Representing the Uttar Pradesh government, Additional Advocate General Vinod Shahi and Chief Standing Counsel Shailendra Singh submitted that the allegations of donation theft are already under investigation by the Ayodhya Police and that the matter has been brought before the Supreme Court through separate petitions. They argued that allowing a fresh CBI probe at this stage would prejudice the ongoing investigation and violate the principle of judicial comity.
The Bench took note of the submissions made by the State counsel and concurred that the existing investigations and the pending Supreme Court petitions provide an adequate forum for addressing the concerns raised by the petitioner. The Court therefore concluded that there was no necessity to issue any direction for a CBI inquiry at this juncture.
The disposition of the petition means that the plea filed by Mohit Ashok stands dismissed as not maintainable. The parties remain bound by the orders that may be passed by the Supreme Court in the pending petitions, which include a plea by advocates Ajay Kumar Rai and Dinesh Kumar Yadav seeking preservation of electronic evidence and records, and another plea filed by Rashtriya Janata Dal Member of Parliament Sudhakar Singh seeking an independent probe into the financial affairs of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust.
The Court’s order underscores the judicial policy of avoiding multiplicity of proceedings on identical issues and reinforces the principle that a lower court should not entertain a petition when substantially similar relief is already sought before a higher tribunal. The ruling leaves the resolution of the donation theft allegations to the ongoing proceedings before the Supreme Court and the investigative agencies already engaged in the matter.