From our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted time to the Centre till October 31 on a batch of petitions challenging certain provisions of the 1991 law prohibiting a lawsuit on the places of worship or change in its character from whata prevailed on August 15, 1947.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the government is seized of it and a comprehensive reply will be filed.
“The Centre is taking adjournment after adjournment. Please list it for final hearing,” pleaded petitioner and BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy.
The top court made it clear that it has not stayed the law’s operation and asked lawyer Vrinda Grover to share a copy of her petition with the counsel assisting the solicitor general.
On January 9, the court had asked the Centre to file its reply to the PILs against some provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, by the end of February. It is seized of six petitions, including the PILs b lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay and former Rajya Sabha MP Dr Swamy, against the provisions of the law.
Updhyay wanted certain sections struck down as they take away the right of judicial remedy to reclaim a place of worship of any person or a religious group. Earlier, the Court hd hinted at referring the law to a 5-judge Constitution Bench for adjudication.
While Swamy wanted the apex court to “read down” certain provisions to enable the Hindus sstake claim over the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and the Shah Idgah Mosque in Mathura, Upadhyay claimed the entire statute was unconstitutional. The doctrine of reading down a law is generally used to save a statute from being struck down on account of its unconstitutionality.
The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, represented by advocate Ejaz Maqbool, had referred to the 5-judge Constitution Bench judgment in the Ram Mandir case and said the 1991 Act has been referred in it and as such it cannot be set aside now.
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