1991 Places of Worship case: SC bans lower courts from opening new Mandir-Masjid cases till…
The Supreme Court has prohibited courts nationwide from accepting new suits or pleas for mosque surveys to check for underlying temples, as well as from issuing effective orders in ongoing cases.
The Supreme Court on Thursday restrained courts across the country from admitting or passing orders in any fresh suit or plea seeking the survey of mosques to determine whether temples lie beneath them.
The Court also ordered that in pending suits (such as those concerning the Gyanvapi mosque, Mathura Shahi Idgah, Sambhal Jama Masjid, etc.), the courts should not pass effective interim or final orders, including orders for a survey. The interim order was passed during the hearing of a batch of petitions challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, Live Law reported.
The apex court directed, “No order for a survey or any other effective order shall be passed in existing suits. In pending lawsuits, courts shall not pass any effective interim or final orders until further notice.”
A special bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan passed the order.
The Court was hearing a series of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the 1991 Act, which prohibits altering the religious character of places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947.
The lead petition, Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India, was filed in 2020, prompting the Court to issue a notice to the Union Government in March 2021. Several similar petitions followed, contesting the same law.
Additionally, a writ petition by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind sought the enforcement of the Act. Various political parties, including the CPI(M), Indian Union Muslim League, DMK, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, and NCP (Sharad Pawar) MP Jitendra Awhad, filed intervention applications to support the Act’s protection.
1991 Places of Worship Act gains attention
The Union Government has not yet submitted its counter-affidavit despite multiple court deadline extensions. The 1991 Act has gained public attention recently due to violent incidents following the survey of the Sambhal Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh.
The Court appointed Advocates Kanu Agarwal, Vishnu Shankar Jain, and Ejaz Maqbool as nodal counsels to compile information on behalf of the Union, petitioners, and supporters of the Act, respectively.
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Business NewsNewsIndia1991 Places of Worship case: SC bans lower courts from opening new Mandir-Masjid cases till…
First Published:12 Dec 2024, 04:07 PM IST
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