New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred the plea of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi to implement the 1991 Places of Worship Act to February 17.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice K.V. Viswanathan, was hearing Owaisi’s petition filed on December 17, 2024, through advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi.
The plea seeks strict enforcement of the Act, which mandates maintaining the religious character of places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947.
Advocate Nizamuddin Pasha, representing Owaisi, requested the court to tag the petition with similar pending cases.
The CJI agreed, tagging it with matters filed by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind and other petitioners, which are scheduled for a hearing on February 17.
Previously, on December 12, the Supreme Court, while addressing a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the 1991 law, restrained all courts from entertaining fresh suits or issuing interim or final orders regarding cases seeking to reclaim religious places.
“As the matter is sub-judice, no fresh suits shall be registered, nor proceedings undertaken until further orders,” the bench stated.
This decision effectively stalled around 18 lawsuits filed by various Hindu groups, including those seeking surveys to determine the religious origins of places like the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, Shahi Idgah Masjid in Mathura, and Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal.
The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, prohibits the conversion of any place of worship and seeks to maintain its religious character as of August 15, 1947.
Petitioners opposing the law, such as lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, argue that it infringes on the right to judicial remedy to reclaim places of worship.
On the other hand, Owaisi’s plea, supported by other Muslim organizations, emphasizes the importance of implementing the law to preserve communal harmony and prevent contentious claims over religious sites. His counsel pointed to instances where courts had ordered surveys of mosques based on petitions from Hindu litigants.
The Gyanvapi Mosque management committee also opposed the challenges to the 1991 law, to overturn its protections and reignite disputes over sites like the Shahi Idgah Masjid in Mathura, Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque near Delhi’s Qutub Minar, and Kamal Maula Mosque in Madhya Pradesh.
The Supreme Court’s next hearing on this contentious issue will be heard on February 17, to address broader implications for communal harmony and legal protections under the 1991 Act.
