Congress leaders move Supreme Court for restraining states from carrying out court's order for survey of religious places

New Delhi: Congress party leaders Alok Sharma and Priya Mishra approached the Supreme Court to restrain the courts across the country from entertaining pleas filed for carrying out survey at religious shrines.

According to a lawyer, the petitioners asked the court to issue directions to the states to comply with the provisions of the Place of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

The petitioners also asked the states not to execute any order of courts directing them to carry survey of religious structures or mosques in the contravention of the 1991 Act.

The petitioners raised questions over the validity of the orders issued for carrying out survey of mosques and shrines at Mathura, Gyanvapi Mosque at Varanasi, Ajmer Sharif, Dhar in Madhya Pradesh and Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh.

Notably, dealing with a plea related to Varanasi's Gyanvapi mosque, the Supreme Court had on October 13, 2023 said whether a suit filed for a right to worship over there is barred from the Place of Worship Act, 1991 or not would depend on character and status of the structure as on August 15, 1947, the cut off date fixed under the statute.

On July 11, 2023, on a plea questioning validity of the 1991 Act, the Supreme Court had said that it can't issue a blanket stay on proceedings before different courts related to religious places.

The law in question mandated for maintaining status of religious places as prevailed on August 15, 1947. Its validity has been challenged in a batch of petitions for "taking away the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhist and Sikhs to restore their places of worship and pilgrimages, destroyed by invaders”.

The court had then said though there is no stay on the 1991 law for maintaining status of religious places, it cannot issue a blanket stay on proceedings launched in various courts across the country related to religious places.

The court had then granted further time to the Union government to clarify its stand on pleas challenging validity of the Places of Worship Act, 1991