Today, On 4th December, Chief Justice of India, Sanjiv Khanna, will hear petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, today, December 4, 2024. The Act seeks to preserve the religious character of places of worship as of August 15, 1947. Petitioners argue it restricts justice in historical disputes, while supporters claim it upholds secularism. The hearing is crucial in addressing constitutional and societal issues.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court set to hear petitions regarding the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, on Wednesday, December 4, 2024.
A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar will oversee the proceedings.
Six petitions have been submitted in this matter, including one from the World Bhadra Pujari Purohit Federation, Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Ashwini Upadhyay, and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind. While some petitioners are seeking to have the Act invalidated, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind filed a petition in favor of it.
Recently, in response to a lower court’s ruling, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind requested an expedited hearing from the Supreme Court. This case originated from a survey conducted at the historic Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal by a court commissioner.
The Places of Worship Act, 1991, which prohibits the alteration of any place of worship and requires the preservation of its religious character as it existed on August 15, 1947, first challenged by Hindu petitioners in the Supreme Court back in 2020. Conversely, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s support for the Act came in the form of a petition filed in 2022.
The Supreme Court will hear all related petitions together on December 4.
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The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act prohibits the conversion of places of worship and mandates the preservation of their religious character as it existed on August 15, 1947.
On May 20, 2022, during a hearing related to the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, the Supreme Court made oral comments indicating that determining the religious character of a place of worship is not prohibited by the Act.
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