It additionally issued discover to the Centre on pleas and intervention purposes filed on the matter.
New Delhi:
The Supreme Court on Friday posted for listening to, earlier than a three-judge bench, the pleas difficult the Constitutional validity of sure sections of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit additionally requested the Centre to file its response to the pleas inside two weeks. It famous that the Central authorities has not but filed any response to the pleas during which the discover was issued final 12 months.
It additionally allowed candidates to intervene in the principle pleas difficult the Places of Worship Act and might file written submissions for no more than 5 pages.
It additionally issued discover to the Centre on some pleas and intervention purposes filed on the matter.
Posting the matter for listening to on October 11, it stated that within the meantime all events are directed to finish pleadings.
Earlier, the highest courtroom had granted liberty to petitioners, difficult the Act, to file an intervention utility in already pending pleas on the identical challenge.
The plea challenged the Places of Worship Act saying that the Act takes away the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to revive their ‘locations of worship and pilgrimages’ destroyed by the invaders.
The daughter of Kashi Royal Family, Maharaja Kumari Krishna Priya; BJP chief Subramanian Swamy; Chintamani Malviya, former Member of Parliament; Anil Kabotra, a retired military officer; advocate Chandra Shekhar; Rudra Vikram Singh, resident of Varanasi; Swami Jeetendranand Saraswati, a non secular chief; Devkinandan Thakur, resident of Mathura and a non secular guru amongst others have filed the pleas within the prime courtroom towards the 1991 Act.
The prime courtroom had issued notices to the Centre on the plea of advocate Ashwini Upadhyay and one different plea difficult the Act.
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind additionally filed a plea within the prime courtroom difficult the petitions filed by a Hindu petitioner saying that entertaining the pleas towards the Act will open floodgates of the litigations towards numerous mosques throughout India.
One of the pleas acknowledged, “The Act excludes the birthplace of Lord Rama but includes the birthplace of Lord Krishna, though both are the incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the creator and equally worshipped all over the world.”
The pleas additional acknowledged that the Act blatantly offends the suitable of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to revive, handle, keep and administer the locations of worship and pilgrimage assured beneath Article 26 of the Indian Constitution.
The pleas filed have challenged the constitutional validity of Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991, which it stated offends Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, 29 and violates the ideas of secularism and the rule of regulation, which is an integral a part of the Preamble and the fundamental construction of the Constitution.
The pleas stated that the Act violates the ideas of secularism and Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Act and has taken away the Right To Approach the Court and thus Right To Judicial Remedy has been closed.
Section 3 of the Act bars the conversion of locations of worship. It states, “No person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination or any section thereof.”
Section 4 bars submitting any go well with or initiating another authorized continuing for a conversion of the non secular character of anywhere of worship, as current on August 15, 1947.
The Places of Worship Act 1991 is void and unconstitutional for a lot of causes, the plea stated, including that it offends the suitable of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to hope, profess, follow and prorogate faith (Article 25), the petitions stated.
The Act infringes on the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to handle keep and administer the locations of worship and pilgrimage (Article 26), the pleas added.
The Act deprives Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs of proudly owning non secular properties belonging to the deity (misappropriated by different communities). It additionally takes away the suitable of judicial treatment of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to take again their locations of worship and pilgrimage and the property which belonged to deity, acknowledged the pleas.
The Act additional deprives Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to take again their locations of worship and pilgrimage related with cultural heritage (Article 29) and it additionally restricts them to revive the possession of locations of worship and pilgrimage however permits Muslims to say beneath Section 107, Waqf Act, the pleas added.
“The Act legalizes the barbarian acts of invaders. It violates the doctrine of Hindu law that the ‘Temple property is never lost even if enjoyed by strangers for years’ and even the king cannot take away property as the deity is the embodiment of God and is juristic person, represents ‘Infinite the timeless’ and cannot be confined by the shackles of time,” one of many petitions acknowledged.
“It is respectfully submitted that the Central Government by making impugned provision (Places of Worship Act 1991) in the year of 1991 has created arbitrary irrational retrospective cutoff date, declared that character of places of worship and pilgrimage shall be maintained as it was on August 15, 1947, and no suit or proceeding shall lie in the court in respect of the dispute against encroachment done by barbaric fundamentalist invaders and such proceeding shall stand abated,” the PILs acknowledged.
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