- By Talibuddin Khan
- Thu, 12 Dec 2024 03:17 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Supreme Court on December 12 restrained all courts across the country from passing any effective interim or final order including orders of survey in pending suits against existing religious structures. A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justices PV Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan also ordered that no fresh suits can be registered over such claims while the court is hearing pleas challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. The bench also granted four weeks to the Centre to file an affidavit in a batch of petitions challenging certain provisions of the Act.
"As the matter is sub-judice before this court, we deem it fit to direct that while suits may be filed, no suits would be registered and proceedings undertaken till further orders of this court. In the pending suits, courts would not pass any effective interim order or final orders, including orders of survey," the bench ordered.
The Places Of Worship Act was enacted by the Parliament in 1991 during the Congress government led by the then PM PV Narasimha Rao amid the Ram Temple movement keeping in mind the "larger interest of the society and maintain communal harmony" in a diverse country like India. The bill, tabled by the then Home Minister SB Chavan in the Lok Sabha in August 1991, was passed on September 10, 1991. The bill was passed in Rajya Sabha two days later.
What Is The Places Of Worship Act, 1991?
As mentioned above, the Places of Worship Act, 1991, prohibits the filing of lawsuits to reclaim places of worship or change their character from what existed on August 15, 1947. "An Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto," the Act reads.
The Place Of Worship Act, 1991 has eight sections that underscore its intent to uphold secularism and promote communal harmony by safeguarding the status quo of religious sites.
- Section 1 provides the short title, extent, and commencement of the Act.
- Section 2 defines key terms used in the legislation.
- Section 3 prohibits the conversion of a place of worship's religious character.
- Section 4 protects the status of such places and bars court jurisdiction over disputes related to their religious identity.
- Section 5 clarifies that the Act does not apply to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site.
- Section 6 prescribes penalties for contravening Section 3.
- Section 7 establishes the Act's primacy over conflicting laws.
- Section 8, now repealed, originally addressed procedural aspects.
What Provisions Have Been Challenged And Why?
The main focus of the pleas against the Places of Worship Act, 1991, is on Section 3 and Section 4 of the Act. While Section 3 prohibits the conversion of places of worship, Section 4 of the act bars the filing of any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for a conversion of the religious character of any place of worship, as existing on August 15, 1947.
Section 3 of the act reads, "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."
The pleas filed challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Act, which they said "violates the principles of secularism and rule of law, which is an integral part of the Preamble and basic structure of the Constitution". The petitioners claim that it takes away their right to approach the court and seek judicial remedy.
The petitioners also argue that the Act deprives them of their right to manage, maintain, and administer their places of worship and pilgrimage. "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," one the plea stated.
One of the pleas 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 Act deprives these communities from owning/acquiring religious properties belonging to the deity (misappropriated by other communities) and also takes away the right to take back their places of worship and pilgrimage and the property which belongs to the deity," the pleas contended.
One of the pleas stated that while it restricts Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs from restoring the possession of places of worship and pilgrimage it allows Muslims to claim under Section 107, of the Waqf Act.
"It is respectfully submitted that the Central Government by making impugned provision (Places of Worship Act 1991) in the year of 1991 has created arbitrary irrational retrospective cutoff date, declared that character of places of worship and pilgrimage shall be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947 and no suit or proceeding shall lie in the court in respect of the dispute against encroachment done by barbaric fundamentalist invaders and such proceeding shall stand abated," the PILs stated.
What Muslim Organisations Are Saying?
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had filed a plea in the top court challenging the petitions filed by Hindu petitioners saying that entertaining the pleas against the Act will open floodgates of litigations against countless mosques across India. India Muslim Personal Law Board had also moved the apex court opposing a batch of petitions challenging the validity of certain provisions of a 1991 law.
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Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masjid which manages the mosque in the Gyanvapi complex has filed an intervention application in the case and sought dismissal of pleas challenging the Places of Worship Act.