The Supreme Court has given the Central government time until October 31 to provide clarity on the validity of the Places of Worship Act, which safeguards the identity and character of religious sites as they existed on Independence Day.
The decision came after a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud heard a plea by the Delhi government challenging an order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that appointed the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi as the Chairman of the High-Level Committee responsible for addressing pollution in the Yamuna river.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, requested additional time to make a decision regarding the law. The government has previously sought multiple adjournments to file an affidavit and finalize its stance. Former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy urged the court to commence the hearing, but the Chief Justice emphasized the need to hear the government's view before proceeding and allowing the petitioners to respond.
During earlier hearings, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, argued that the court should first determine whether a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the Places of Worship Act is permissible, especially after a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had previously upheld the law's validity in the Ayodhya judgment. The Ayodhya judgment acknowledged the importance of preserving the character of public places of worship and preventing historical injustices from being used to oppress the present and future.
While the government has previously expressed its personal opinion that the Ayodhya judgment does not preclude the examination of the Act's validity, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, contended that the remarks made in the Ayodhya verdict were merely obiter dicta and did not carry the force of law.
The Places of Worship Act has faced multiple petitions challenging its validity, with arguments asserting that it restricts Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs from reclaiming their places of worship that were allegedly invaded by historical aggressors.
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