Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Challenging Practice Of Prime Minister Offering Chadar At Ajmer Sharif Dargah

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the extension of State-sponsored ceremonial honour and symbolic recognition to Islamic scholar and mystic Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and to the Ajmer Dargah by the Union and its instrumentalities. The petitioner had also sought to bar the Prime Minister from offering chadar at the Ajmer Dargah.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi dismissed the petition, saying that the "the relief sought is not justiciable."

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the custom of offering chadar started only in 1947. CJI Surya Kant said that the bench will not make any comment as the issue is not justiciable.

The counsel then pointed out that a civil suit is pending in the trial court on the claim that the dargah was built over the ruins of a Shiva temple.  The bench clarified that the dismissal of the writ petition will not have any bearing on the pending civil suit.

The petitioners, one Jitender Singh and one Vishnu Gupta, are presidents of Vishwa Vedic Sanatan Sangh and Hindu Sena respectively. They are aggrieved by the "continued practice of State-sponsored ceremonial honour, official patronage and symbolic recognition" extended to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti by various instrumentalities of the Union of India. It is their contention that the same is unconstitutional, arbitrary, historically unfounded and contrary to the constitutional ethos, dignity and sovereignty of the Republic of India.

In the context of the prayer seeking to restrain PM Modi from offering a chadar at the Ajmer dargah, the petitioners submit that the practice of a PM offering chadar at Ajmer dargah was initiated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1947 and has continued since without any legal or constitutional basis.

They cite the Constitutional Bench decision in Dargah Committee, Ajmer v. Syed Hussain Ali, to argue that the Ajmer dargah does not constitute a religious denomination under Article 26. The petitioners also contend that offering of a chadar by Head of the Government at the Ajmer dargah is against the will of the people.

Notably, one of the petitioners has also made a representation to PM Modi to refrain from offering a chadar at the Ajmer dargah.

The petition has been drawn by Advocate Barun Kumar Sinha and filed through AoR Anantha Narayana MG.

Case Title: Jitender Singh v. Union of India, Diary No. 74179/2025