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Court was told today that it is seized already of various pleas on the issue and the fresh one may be tagged with them as well
The Supreme Court of India today agreed to hear a petition filed by Asaduddin Owaisi, the President of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), seeking to enforce the provisions of Places of Worship Act.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna with Justice Sanjay Kumar has tagged Owaisi's fresh plea with the pending cases on the issue which will be taken up on February 17. Advocate Nizam Pasha appeared for Owaisi.
In December 2024, in the batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 (PoW Act) the Supreme Court ordered that no trial court across India shall register any fresh suit filed by a community or its member claiming ownership of any existing religious place belonging to a different community.
Top Court has further ordered that no orders of survey or any effective orders shall be passed in the suits pertaining to religious places claims pending before the local courts of the high courts until it concludes the matter before it.
A special bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justices Sanjay Kumar, and KV Viswanathan could not hear the matter on the last date as no counter was on record on behalf of the Union government. Accordingly, court has allowed the Union 4 weeks' time to file the counter. It also ordered the respondents to file their replies by then as well.
The special bench is seized with the batch of petitions which include the pleas of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Advocate J Sai Deepak, Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhayay and Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain challenging the legislation.
On the opposite side, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, led by President Maulana Arshad Madani has also filed a petition for 'effective and proper enforcement' of the provisions of the Act.
Moreover, the Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, which oversees the Gyanvapi in Varanasi, has also approached the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in the batch of pleas. Its main contention is that the pleas against the PoW Act have been filed seeking to question its validity with rhetoric and they are rooted in communal claims. Therefore, it argues that such petitions cannot be entertained by the Supreme Court.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board is also an opposing party in the batch of petitions.
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