The Supreme Court on Monday postponed the hearing on a group of petitions concerning the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, to the first week of April.
A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar announced that the case will be heard by a three-judge bench.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court expressed frustration over the filing of multiple new petitions in a case concerning the validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which mandates that the religious character of a place must remain as it was on August 15, 1947.
“We might not be able to take it up”, the CJI said when senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for a litigant, mentioned a fresh plea for hearing during the day.
VIDEO | "The first petition in this matter was filed in 2021 and today it has been almost four years, the Centre is yet to file its response. They should at least file response on the original petition, if not on the new petitions. We believe that the other side relying on Babri… pic.twitter.com/8yueStAKaF
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 17, 2025
At the start of the day’s proceedings, the senior advocate brought up the matter.
“We are constrained to pass this order after taking note of the number of fresh petitions filed. The pending writ petitions, which have no notices, stand dismissed with liberty to file an application raising additional grounds, if any. The new IA will only be allowed if there is any new point or new legal issue that has not been raised in the pending petitions,” the bench said.
The Court then scheduled the batch of petitions and cross-petitions related to the 1991 law for hearing in the week starting April 1 before a three-judge bench.
At the outset, the CJI said, “People keep on filing fresh petitions alleging that they have raised new grounds…It will become impossible for us to deal with the petitions besides whatever has already been filed.”
In its December 12, 2024 order, the Supreme Court effectively halted proceedings in approximately 18 lawsuits filed by various Hindu parties. These lawsuits sought surveys to determine the original religious character of 10 mosques, including the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, Shahi Idgah Masjid in Mathura, and Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, where four people were killed in clashes.
The Court had initially scheduled an effective hearing for all the petitions on February 17.
Since the December 12 order, several new petitions have been filed, including ones by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Samajwadi Party leader and Kairana MP Iqra Choudhary, and the Congress Party, all seeking the effective implementation of the 1991 law.
On February 14, Choudhary, the Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana, called for measures to curb the rising trend of legal actions against mosques and dargahs, arguing that such actions threaten communal harmony and the secular fabric of the country.
The Supreme Court had previously agreed to examine a separate plea filed by Owaisi, which contained a similar request.
The Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti, a Hindu organization, had approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to intervene in the cases challenging the validity of provisions under the 1991 law.
Previously, the bench was hearing six petitions, including the lead petition filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, which challenged various provisions of the 1991 law.
The law prohibits the conversion of any place of worship and mandates the preservation of the religious character of such places as it existed on August 15, 1947. However, the dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was excluded from its scope.
