A Mathura court has ordered a survey of the land of the Shahi Idgah, responding to a Hindutva outfit’s contention that the mosque had come up by demolishing a temple at Lord Krishna’s birthplace.

Hearing the case filed by the Hindu Sena, civil judge senior division Sonika Verma ordered the revenue department to depute an ameen (surveyor of the state revenue department) for the job. A report will have to be filed on January 20, the next date of hearing.

Vishnu Gupta and Surjit Singh, president and vice-president of the Hindu Sena, have claimed in court that the 13.37 acres of land on which the Shahi Idgah stands were part of the Krishna Janmasthan temple that was part-demolished during Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s time.

They have also challenged an agreement between the temple and mosque managements in 1968 in which they had agreed to coexist. The petitioners have argued that the managements have no legal right to reach any such arrangement.

Shailesh Dubey, counsel for the petitioners, said: “We have placed before the court the entire facts on December 8. The hearing was supposed to be held on December 22 but it couldn’t happen because of some reasons. The court asked for the survey on Friday and the notification was issued on Saturday.”

Tanveer Ahmad, secretary of the Idgah Trust, said they would oppose the court order legally.

There are over a dozen cases related to the idgah and the temple pending in courts of Mathura. One such case was filed by Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Sabha leader Dinesh Kaushik in May this year, seeking permission for Hindus to worship at the Shahi Idgah.