The Supreme Court on Monday granted extra time to the Center to file an affidavit in response to the petitions difficult the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala directed the Center to file the affidavit on or earlier than December 12 and stated the matter can be taken up within the first week of January 2023. The court docket additionally directed that the matter be positioned earlier than a three-judge bench, bar and bench knowledgeable of.
Subramanian Swamy, who has additionally filed a petition within the matter, knowledgeable the court docket that he was not looking for quashing of the Act. “Two more temples have to be added and then the Act can stand,” he stated.
According to bar and benchThe Center was requested to file a reply whether or not the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court listening to the Ram Janmabhoomi case has already settled the query of the validity of the 1991 Act.
When the matter got here to the fore, Mohd. bar and bench knowledgeable of, Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta instructed the Supreme Court that the Center can take a stand on challenges to the Act solely after session with the very best ranges of presidency. Hence, the SG requested the apex court docket to listing the matter within the first week of December as he was unable to carry detailed consultations with the federal government.
Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991“An Act to provide for the prohibition of the conversion of any place of worship and for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship, as existed on the 15th day of August, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.” ” Section 3 of the Act prohibits the conversion, in entire or partly, of a spot of worship of any non secular denomination to a unique non secular denomination – and even of a unique part of the identical non secular denomination.
This act was introduced by the then Congress authorities of the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao at a time when the Ram Mandir motion was at its peak.
(with inputs from bar and bench)
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
