According to the news agency, the Congress party has moved the Supreme Court to oppose the petitions challenging the provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. Year Reported on Thursday, January 16.
The party has filed an intervention application in the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay against the constitutional validity of the Act.
The application states that the Act is necessary to protect secularism in India and the challenge against it appears to be a motivated and malicious attempt to undermine the established principles of secularism.
“The applicant wishes to intervene in this case to emphasize the constitutional and social importance of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, as he fears that any change therein would jeopardize the communal harmony and secular fabric of India. Can put, which may threaten sovereignty. and integrity of the nation,” the Congress party said in its application before the Supreme Court, according to the legal news website bar and bench,
Places of Worship Act
The Places of Worship Act was passed in 1991 during the reign of then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. In the petition, the Congress party says that it is committed to the principles of secularism and had played an important role in making the law when the party was in majority with the Janata Dal in the Lok Sabha.
It said, “Since the applicant, through its elected members, was responsible for the introduction and passage of POWA, the applicant may be permitted to intervene and defend the legal validity of the passage of POWA.”
The Congress party’s plea comes as the apex court is set to hear petitions questioning the constitutionality of the Act. The party opposing it argues that some provisions of the Act are against Hindus.
Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind approached the Supreme Court seeking to make itself a party in Ashwini Upadhyay’s petition challenging the Places of Worship Act. All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi has also moved the Supreme Court seeking implementation of the Act.
In December 2024, the apex court directed lower courts to refrain from issuing any coercive orders or surveying existing religious structures in cases challenging their religious character, pending the outcome of the challenge to the Act.
Any change in the Act could jeopardize the communal harmony and secular fabric of India thereby threatening the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.
The Court also ordered that in pending cases (such as Gyanvapi Masjid, Mathura Shahi Eidgah, Sambhal Jama Masjid, etc.), the courts should not pass effective interim or final orders, including orders for survey.
