Supreme Court to hear challenges to the Places of Worship Act

The Supreme Court is set to hear the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, on February 17, 2025, together with petitions seeking its implementation and enforcement. This was announced by the Supreme Court on December 07, 2024 before a Special Bench of three Judges led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan in the wake of civil courts across the country being seized with petitions/applications seeking surveys of mosques, including the Shahi Jama Masjid, Sambhal, the Moinuddin Chishti Dargah in Ajmer and the Atala Mosque in Jaunpur.

Supreme stays of all suits

On the previous date of the hearing on December 12, 2024, the Special Bench had stayed the registration of new suits disputing the existing character of any religious structure, although such suits may be filed. The Bench had also directed the Courts to refrain from undertaking any proceedings in such cases till further orders.

For the pending suits, the Bench directed that no Court will pass any effective interim or final orders, including orders directing surveys, etc., till the next date of the hearing or till further orders.

The order was passed in a courtroom full of chaos with lawyers jostling at the podium to put forth their arguments when Chief Justice Khanna fulminated, “We cannot have it like this. How do we even pass an order? If you don’t let us do it from the bench, we will do it from the chamber.”

Given the multiplicity and complexity of the directions sought, the Bench appointed nodal counsels for each side. Mr Vishnu Shankar Jain, Advocate-on-record, was appointed the Nodal Counsel on behalf of the writ petitioners challenging the validity of the 1991 Act and Mr Ejaz Maqbool, Advocate-on-record, was appointed the Nodal Counsel for the petitioners/interveners seeking enforcement of the Act or opposing the writ petitions challenging its validity. Mr Kanu Agarwal was appointed the Nodal Counsel for the Union Government.

The order applies to the Gyanvapi dispute in Varanasi, the Shahi Eidgah – Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi temple dispute in Mathura, the dispute over the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, the Bhojshala – Kamal Maula complex dispute in Dhar, the dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, the Atala Mosque in Jaunpur and to all such suits that are pending in more than ten other places.

Key provisions of the Act

The key provisions of the Act include the prohibition on the conversion of any place of worship (Section 3), maintaining the religious identity of such places as of the cutoff date, terminating all ongoing legal proceedings related to the character of religious structures and the prohibition on the initiation of any new suit, appeal, or other proceeding of that nature (Section 4).

The Act, however, exempts the Ayodhya dispute, the ancient monuments covered by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 and the legal proceedings that were already decided or disputes that were mutually resolved before the commencement of the Act.