3-judge Supreme Court Bench to hear Places of Worship Act pleas

The top court, which last heard the matter on January 9, 2023, had given the Centre till February 2 to file its reply after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Bench the government “may” file a reply before the hearing. “Kindly fix it for hearing. We are consulting. The process is going. We may file it before that”, Mehta had said.

Wednesday, some of the parties pointed out that the Centre had not yet submitted its reply despite seeking extension of time and requested the Bench to schedule it for regular hearing.

The Places of Worship Act, 1991 declares that the character of a place of worship as on August 15, 1947 shall be maintained and that no suit or proceeding shall lie in any court in respect of any dispute against encroachment of any religious properties at any point of time before this date.

It also says that any such pending proceeding shall stand abated and that any proceeding filed on the grounds that conversion of religious place has taken place after August 15, 1947 and before September 18, 1991 (when the Act came into existence) shall be disposed of to maintain the status as existed on August 15, 1947.