Mathura Mosque Committee Urges Supreme Court To Close Centre's Right To File Reply In Challenge To Places Of Worship Act Due To Delay

In the pleas challenging constitutionality of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, the Mathura Shahi Masjid Committee has filed an application assailing the Centre's delay in filing response and seeking that the latter's right to file reply be closed so that the matter can proceed.It may be recalled that a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar, KV Viswanathan is dealing with a batch of petitions questioning the constitutional validity of the 1991 Act, which prohibits the conversion of religious character of places of worship from their status as of August 15, 1947. The bench is also seized of a petition filed by Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind seeking implementation of the Act.In the lead matter in this batch, notice was issued to the Centre in March, 2021. However, its reply is still awaited, despite multiple opportunities having been granted by the court.In this backdrop, the Mathura mosque committee, manager of Mathura's Shahi Eidgah Mosque (in relation to which 17 suits involving Hindu worshippers' claims are pending before Allahabad High Court), has filed an application accusing the Centre of deliberately delaying the response."the Union of India is deliberately not filing its Counter Affidavit/Reply vis-a-vis the challenge to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, with the intention to delay the hearing of the present Writ Petition and the connected Writ Petitions, thereby obstructing those who are opposing the challenge to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 in filing their respective written submissions/responses, as the stand of the Union of India would have a bearing on the same", the plea states.In support of its prayer, the Mosque Committee cites 3 instances when the Union was granted time by the Court to file a response, that is, 09.09.2022 (when the Court granted 2 week's time to the Union noting that notice was issued to it in March, 2021), 12.10.2022 (when the Court asked Union to file reply by 31.10.2022) and 12.12.2024 (when the Court noted that Union had not filed its reply since more than 3 yrs and gave it 4 weeks' time).The Mosque Committee states that the period of 4 weeks granted by the Court on the last occasion, ie December 12, has also expired. Yet, the counter-affidavit has not been filed by the Union. As such, its right to file response may be closed, so that the matter can proceed.The Mathura Mosque Committee's application has been settled by Advocate Mehmood Pracha and drawn & filed by Advocate-on-Record RHA Sikander.It may be mentioned that on the last hearing (December 12), the Supreme Court ordered that no further suits can be registered in the country against places of worship till further orders from the Supreme Court. It further directed that in pending suits (such as those concerning Gyanvapi mosque, Mathura Shahi Idgah, Sambhal Jama Masjid etc.), courts should not pass effective interim or final orders, including orders for survey. The crucial intervention came amidst rising concerns about the filing of multiple suits in the country claiming ownership of medieval mosques and dargahs.BackgroundThe lead petition in the matter (Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India) was filed in 2020, in which the Court issued notice to the Union Government in March 2021. Later, few other similar petitions were filed challenging the statute.Several intervention applications have been filed by various political parties like Indian National Congress, CPI(M), Indian Union Muslim League, DMK and RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, NCP (Sharad Pawar) MLA Jitendra Awhad etc, seeking protection of the Act.The Union Government is yet to file its counter-affidavit in the matter, despite several extensions given by the Court. The Act became a focal point of public discussion recently in view of the violent events which followed the survey of the Sambhal Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh.Case Title: Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. UoI And Ors. WP(C) No. 1246/2020 (and connected cases)

Mathura Mosque Committee Urges Supreme Court To Close Centre's Right To File Reply In Challenge To Places Of Worship Act Due To Delay

Debby Jain

Tags