New Delhi: The Shahi Masjid Eidgah of Mathura requested the Supreme Court in a fresh prayer to close the Centre’s right to file its reply to the petitions challenging the validity of the Places of Worship Act, 1991. The plea pointed out that the top court had noticed that the Union government had not filed its reply in this regard for three years in an order passed on December 12, 2024. The court also ordered that the Centre must file a common counter affidavit within four weeks, but the government is deliberately not filing it as ordered with the intention of delaying the hearing, IANS reported.
According to the plea filed by the Committee of Management of Mathura’s Shahi Masjid Eidgah, the Centre is obstructing those who are opposing the challenge to the 1991 act in filing their respective written submissions, as the stand of the Centre would have a bearing on the same.
The Shahi Masjid Eidgah’s application contended that since the Supreme Court has fixed the date of hearing of the batch of the petition as February 17, “it would be in the interest of justice if the right of the Union of India to file its counter affidavit/ reply/pleadings/submissions is closed”.
In March 2021, a Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) S.A. Bobde sought the Centre's response to the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay challenging the validity of certain provisions of the law, prohibiting the filing of a lawsuit from reclaiming a place of worship or seeking a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.
In an interim order passed on December 12, 2024, the CJI Sanjiv Khanna-led Special Bench had ordered that no fresh suits would be registered under the Places of Worship Act in the country, and in the pending cases, no final or effective orders would be passed till further orders.