Supreme Court Halts Orders on Mosque Survey Pleas: Key Ruling Explained

Supreme Court Halts Orders on Mosque Survey Pleas: On Thursday, the Supreme Court of India ruled that no further suits challenging the religious status of structures shall henceforth be permitted to file till such time it concludes its adjudication on the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship Act, 1991. In very significant orders, the apex court also prohibited all courts from making effective interim or final orders including surveys for ongoing cases regarding existing religious structures.

Thus, in the three-judge bench constituted by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan, for hearing a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs) whose validity of some provisions under Places of Worship Act 1991 was challenged.

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The Supreme Court is said to have been told that "across the length and breadth of this country, there are 18 suits lodged regarding 10 mosques or shrines".

The Central Government has also been granted four weeks by the bench to file an affidavit in response to a cadre of petitions that are questioning certain provisions in the Places of Worship (Special Procedures) Act, 1991.

The result of this case may affect various similar ongoing cases wherein Hindu litigants are claiming rights over properties demarcated for Muslim mosques on the grounds that these mosques have been built over old temples.

Disputed properties comprise the Shahi Jama Masjid, Sambhal; the Gyanvapi Mosque, Varanasi; therein Shahi Eindgah Masjid, Mathura; and Ajmer Dargah, Rajasthan-with Muslim parties contesting the effectiveness of such engagements through; Places of Worship Act as invalid.

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The 1991 Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act prohibits the conversion of places of worship; and ensures that their religious character would be maintained as it existed on the 15th of August, 1947.

Exceptions were the Ram Janmabhoomi site, setting the stage for the 2019 Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya case, which allocated the property in dispute at Ayodhya to the child deity Ram Lalla.

What is Place of Worship Act?

Exceptions were the Ram Janmabhoomi site, setting the stage for the 2019 Supreme Court verdict in the Ayodhya case, which allocated the property in dispute at Ayodhya to the child deity Ram Lalla.

What do petition say?

Petitions argued that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act was arbitrary in the sense that a) there is no justification whatsoever to cut the date at August 15, 1947, and b) there is no rational connection between India's political independence and setting up of the Republic and the resolution of the civilizational conflict emerging from the colonial suppression of Hindu identity and cultural domination from Islamic invaders.

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