The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s plea seeking the implementation of the 1991 Places of Worship Act, which mandates maintaining the religious character of sites as they were on August 15, 1947. A bench led by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar directed that Owaisi’s plea be tagged with pending cases on the same issue, scheduling it for hearing on February 17, 2025. Represented by lawyer Nizam Pasha, Owaisi argued for the inclusion of his plea alongside other cases being considered by the court.
The 1991 Act, which prohibits altering the religious character of places of worship, has faced legal challenges, including a batch of petitions led by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay. On December 12, 2024, the court barred other courts from entertaining new suits or issuing orders in ongoing cases involving religious places, particularly those concerning mosques and dargahs. The Supreme Court is currently examining around six petitions challenging provisions of the Act while emphasizing the need to maintain the status quo.
Owaisi’s petition, filed on December 17, 2024, through advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, seeks directives for the Centre to ensure effective enforcement of the Act. His plea highlights instances where courts have ordered surveys of mosques based on petitions from Hindu litigants, which he claims undermine the Act’s objectives. The case is part of a broader legal debate on preserving communal harmony through the 1991 law.
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