Lucknow, Aug 05: The Allahabad High Court today passed an interim order staying till Septmeber 24 the proceedings in the special CBI court trying Ayodhya demolition cases against 26 accused, including Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and Union HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi. Justice N K Mehrotra of the high court's Lucknow bench passed the order on two petitions filed by the CBI and the then district magistrate of Faizabad R N Srivastava praying for a stay on the proceedings in the special CBI court. The court directed the special court to fix a date after September 24 for further hearing on the matter.

The special CBI court had earlier fixed August 06, for hearing on the matter. The CBI and Srivastava had filed revision petitions in the high court challenging the may 4, 2001 order of the special CBI court by which it had quashed proceedings against 13 accused persons, including Advani and Joshi.
Bureau Report