Supreme Court
New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Monday granted time till December 12 to the Centre to file a comprehensive affidavit to petitions challenging the validity of certain provisions of a 1991 law, which prohibit filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.
Taking up the matter for the first time, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and J B Pardiwala allowed a plea by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for more time to file an affidavit.
Mehta said the matter was being deliberated at the highest level and it required further time for the purpose. The Centre's reply in the matter is awaited since March, 2021. On Mehta's request, the court said the reply should be filed on or before December 12.
Mehta had earlier too sought time before a bench led by the then CJI U U Lalit to file a reply on behalf of the Centre to the contentious issue. On October 12, Mehta had claimed before court that the 2019 Ayodhya case judgement by a five-judge Constitution bench does not cover the questions related to validity of the Protection of Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
The bench asked the Centre to share its response with the parties concerned and decided to hear the pleas in the first week of January 2023.
Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that he has not sought setting aside of the Act in his petition. He said that like Ayodhya Ram temple dispute, the matters pertaining to alleged disputed sites at Kashi and Mathura be kept out of the purview of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
"I am not asking for the quashing of the Act. But two temples be added and the Act can stand as it is," he said.
The bench said it will consider Swamy's plea on the next date of hearing.
Earlier, the bench had granted time till October 31 to the Centre to file its reply to the petitions.
The top court was hearing the pleas, including the one filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay who has said sections 2, 3, 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 be set aside on grounds including that these provisions take away the right of judicial remedy to reclaim a place of worship of any person or a religious group.
