SC to hear Owaisi’s plea on places of worship law implementation

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to examine a plea of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi seeking the effective implementation of the 1991 places of worship law, which asks to maintain the religious character of a place as it existed on August 15, 1947.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar ordered Owaisi’s fresh plea to be tagged with the pending cases on the issue and all matters, along with his plea, would be heard on February 17.

At the outset, advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for Owaisi, the president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), said that the court is seized of various pleas on the issue and the fresh one may be tagged with them as well. “We will tag this,” said the CJI.

Owaisi filed the plea on December 17, 2024 through advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi. On December 12, however, the bench headed by the CJI, while acting on a batch of similar pleas against the 1991 law, restrained all courts from entertaining fresh suits and passing any interim or final orders in pending cases seeking to reclaim religious places, particularly mosques and dargahs.

The special bench was hearing about six petitions, including the lead one filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, challenging various provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

The 1991 law prohibits conversion of any place of worship and provides for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.

Owaisi, in his plea, has sought a direction to the Centre to ensure effective implementation of the law, his counsel said.

He also referred to instances where several courts had ordered surveys of mosques on pleas by Hindu litigants,

he said.