New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (February 17) expressed its displeasure over filing of several fresh petitions in the pleas challenging the validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 mandating the religious character of a place to be maintained as it existed on August 15, 1947.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said on Monday that it may not take up the matter today as the bench was sitting in a combination of two judges.
The matter was earlier heard by a three-judge bench headed by CJI Khanna.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, who appeared for a litigant, mentioned a fresh plea before the bench for hearing during the day.
We might not be able to take it up today: Apex Court
“There is a limit to which petitions can be filed. So many IAs (interim applications) have been filed… we might not be able to take it up”, CJI Khanna said and added that the date may be given in March.
CJI Khanna-led bench last week, while ordering the listing of Samajwadi Party leader and Kairana MP Iqra Choudhary’s plea with other pending pleas on the Places of Worship Act on February 17 without issuing a notice, had said, “Why are so many new petitions being filed? Every week we get one.”
The apex court, while hearing several petitions and cross-petitions on the 1991 law on December 12 last year, restrained all courts in the country from passing any interim or final orders on pending pleas seeking to reclaim religious places.
Apex court is seized of several pleas on Places of Worship Act
The Supreme Court is seized of of several pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the 1991 Act, including Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay and former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy.
Several pleas for impleadment have been filed against pleas challenging 1991 law
Several pleas for impleadment into the matter have been filed against the pleas challenging the 1991 law, including pleas filed by Gyanvapi Mosque Management Committee, Varanasi, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, Indian National Congress, CPI (M) through politburo member Prakash Karat and All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi and others.
