Places of Worship Act: SC Bars Courts From Orders On Religious Structures

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a directive restraining all courts across India from passing any interim or final orders in ongoing suits related to religious structures.

This includes prohibiting surveys in such cases. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, and Justice KV Viswanathan, also barred the registration of new suits involving claims on religious sites while the court hears petitions challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

The court clarified that while new suits can be filed, no proceedings can take place until further orders. It further stated that no effective interim orders or final decisions, including surveys, could be passed in pending cases. Currently, 18 suits are pending across the country, involving 10 mosques and shrines.

Court also granted 4 weeks to the Centre to file an affidavit addressing petitions challenging certain provisions of the Places of Worship Act, particularly the parts prohibiting legal action to reclaim or alter the status of any place of worship from what it was on August 15, 1947.

The petitioners, including members of the Kashi royal family, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, religious leaders, and other advocates, argue that the 1991 Act undermines the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to reclaim places of worship and pilgrimage sites destroyed by invaders. The Act’s provisions prohibit converting places of worship to another religion’s practices and disallow legal proceedings to change their religious character.

The Act, in effect, freezes the status of places of worship as they were on the day of India’s independence, barring changes or claims after that date. The petitioners contend that the law violates their constitutional rights to manage, maintain, and administer religious sites under Articles 25 & 26 of the Constitution.

They also argue that the law unfairly excludes certain sites, like Lord Ram’s birthplace, from its provisions, creating an arbitrary and discriminatory retrospective cutoff date of August 15, 1947.

In response, several Muslim organizations, including Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and the India Muslim Personal Law Board, have intervened, arguing that granting relief to the petitioners could open the floodgates for litigation against mosques across India. They assert that the law serves to protect the status of religious sites and that overturning it could lead to widespread legal challenges.

The case raises complex issues about the balance between religious freedoms, historical claims, and the preservation of the secular fabric of India, and will be heard further in due course.

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