Plea Filed Seeking Vacation Of Supreme Court's Stay On Registration Of New Suits & Passing Survey Orders Over Mandir-Masjid Disputes

Applications have been filed before the Supreme Court seeking vacation of the stay on registration of fresh suits against places of worship as well as surveys of the religious sites in pending mandir-masjid suits.

It may be recalled that on December 12, the Supreme Court ordered that no further suits can be registered in the country against places of worship till further orders from it. It was further directed that in pending suits (such as those concerning Gyanvapi mosque, Mathura Shahi Idgah, Sambhal Jama Masjid etc.), courts should not pass effective interim or final orders, including orders for survey.

The interim order was passed by a special bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan while hearing a batch of petitions relating to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 Act, which prohibits the conversion of religious character of places of worship from their status as of August 15, 1947. While some petitions challenged the constitutionality of the Act, some others sought its strict implementation.

The Act became a focal point of public discussion recently in view of the violent events which followed the survey of the Sambhal Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh. The lead petition (Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India) was filed in 2020, in which the Court issued notice to the Union Government in March 2021. Later, few other similar petitions were filed challenging the statute.

Recently, several intervention applications were filed by various political parties like CPI(M), Indian Union Muslim League, DMK and RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, NCP (Sharad Pawar) MLA Jitendra Awhad etc, seeking protection of the Act.

The matter is scheduled to be heard on February 17, 2025.

Case Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. UoI And Ors. WP(C) No. 1246/2020 (and connected matters)