Lucknow, July 14 -- The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has ordered the Uttar Pradesh government and the petitioners to maintain status quo over a disputed parcel of land in Sitapur after a 150-year-old educational institution claimed an imminent threat of demolition.

The division bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai passed the interim order on July 12 in a Sunday sitting while hearing an urgent petition filed by Methodist Mission Girls Junior High School, Civil Lines, Sitapur, and another. The petition also concerns a church situated on the premises.

The matter was placed before the bench after the petitioners sought an urgent hearing, claiming an imminent threat of demolition of the educational institut...