Places of Worship Act: SC allows Centre to respond till Dec 12

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On Monday, the Supreme Court granted the Centre more time to respond to a batch of petitions challenging certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991, which prohibit the filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what existed on August 15, 1947.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala directed the Centre to file an affidavit by December 12 and adjourned the case to the first week of January, 2019.

The appeal was deferred by the Supreme Court after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing for the Central government, requested extra time to file an affidavit in the case because he needed to consult with the highest level of government.

“I need to consult with the government for filing a detailed counter,” Mehta said.

Dr Subramanian Swamy, former MP and BJP leader told the bench that in his plea he was not seeking to set aside the Act but only two more temples need to be added and then the Act can remain as it is.
On previous occasions also the top court had granted time to the Centre to file a response.

The pleas challenged the Places of Worship Act saying that the Act takes away the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to restore their ‘places of worship and pilgrimages’, destroyed by invaders.

Daughter of the Kashi Royal Family, Maharaja Kumari Krishna Priya; BJP leader Subramanian Swamy; Chintamani Malviya, former Member of Parliament; Anil Kabotra, a retired army officer; advocates Chandra Shekhar; Rudra Vikram Singh, resident of Varanasi; Swami Jeetendranand Saraswati, a religious leader; Devkinandan Thakur Ji, resident of Mathura and a religious guru among others have filed the pleas in the apex court against the 1991 Act.

On the plea of advocate Ashwini Upadhyay and one other plea challenging the Act, the apex court had issued notices to the Centre on March 12 last year.

The 1991 provision is an Act to prevent the conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the preservation of any place of worship’s religious character as it was on August 15, 1947, and for things associated with or incidental thereto.

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has filed a petition before the Supreme Court opposing the petitions filed by a Hindu petitioner, claiming that accepting the petitions against the Act will open the floodgates to litigation against innumerable mosques across India.

The India Muslim Personal Statute Board has also petitioned the Supreme Court to dismiss a slew of petitions contesting the constitutionality of various aspects of a 1991 law.

One of the pleas stated, “The Act excludes the birthplace of Lord Rama but includes the birthplace of Lord Krishna, though both are the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the creator and equally worshiped all over the world.”

The pleas further stated that the Act blatantly offends the right of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to restore, manage, maintain and administer the places of worship and pilgrimage guaranteed under Article 26 of the Indian Constitution.

The petitions filed have challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 2, 3, 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, which it said offends Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29 and violates the principles of secularism and rule of law, which is an integral part of Preamble and the basic structure of the Constitution.

The pleas said that the Act violates the principles of secularism and Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Act have taken away the right to approach the Court and thus right to judicial remedy has been closed.

Section 3 of the Act bars the conversion of places of worship. It states, “No person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination or any section thereof.”