Supreme Court Halts ‘Temple Beneath Mosque’ Surveys, Directs Govt To File Response Within 4 Weeks

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed courts across the country not to entertain or pass orders in any fresh suit or plea seeking survey of mosques to determine whether temples lie beneath them.

The court, while hearing pleas challenging certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act 1991, further restrained lower courts from passing any order in existing suits related to such disputes, effectively halting surveys pending further directions.

“As the matter is sub-judice before this Court, we deem it appropriate to direct that while suits may be filed, no suits would be registered and proceedings undertaken till further orders of this Court. We also direct that in the pending suits, the Courts would not pass any effective interim orders or final orders, including orders of survey till the next date of hearing,” said a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justices PV Sanjay Kumar and KV Vishwanathan.

“We are examining vires, contours and ambit of the 1991 law on places of worship Act,” the top court stated.

The 1991 Act prohibits filing of lawsuits to reclaim places of worship or change their character from what existed on August 15, 1947.

Thursday’s order will affect at least 10 such petitions filed in different courts of the country, challenging the ownership of religious places, including Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi and Shahi Eidgah masjid in Mathura.

The Supreme Court also directed the Centre to file a detailed reply to the batch of pleas challenging the 1991 law, within four weeks.

The top court, meanwhile, allowed pleas of several parties, including Muslim bodies, seeking to intervene in the proceedings. CPI (M), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), NCP (Sharad Pawar) MLA Jitendra Awhad, RJD MP (Member of Parliament) Manoj Kumar Jha, MP Thol Thirumavalan have sought to intervene in the proceedings, supporting the 1991 Act.