NEW DELHI: As many individuals, organisations, politicians and political parties continue to approach Supreme Court filing applications in support and against the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, the apex court Monday said there should be a limit on such applications. The court deferred the case to April to be heard by a three-judge bench.
“Enough is enough. There has to be an end to this,” a bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar said. It said only those applications would be allowed which raised some new ground in the case.
People from various walks of life and priests have filed applications seeking to be heard in the adjudication of the case. The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the validity of the
Places of Worship Act
which has become a bone of contention.
A batch of petitions was filed in SC months after the Ayodhya verdict was pronounced where the bench spoke approvingly of the law. The petitioners, including former MP Subramanian Swamy, Ashwini Upadhyay, now with BJP, and other
Hindu outfits
sought to unlock the litigation route for ownership claims over disputed sites like those at Kashi and Mathura, as they challenged the validity of the 1991 Act, which barred change in character of religious places after Independence, even through court proceedings.
In Dec 2024, SC had directed trial courts to refrain from issuing any substantive orders or conducting surveys of religious structures in cases challenging their religious character, until Supreme Court decides the validity of the Act. Various Hindu parties had filed suits before civil courts laying claim to mosques on the ground that those were built over ancient temples. At least 18 suits filed over four religious structures are pending before various courts across the country.
