Govt tells SC ‘detailed consultations’ at a ‘particular level’ needed on the fate of Places of Worship Act

CJI-led Bench ordered the Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, to file its affidavit clarifying its views by December 12

The government on November 14 in the Supreme Court sought more time to clarify its stand on the validity of the Places of Worship Act, saying “detailed consultations” are needed at a “particular level”.

The 1991 Act protects the identity and character of religious places as they were on August 15, 1947.

A Bench led by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud ordered the Centre, represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, to file its affidavit clarifying its views by December 12. The court agreed to list the case for hearing in the first week of January.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, for petitioner Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, said the government had sought similar adjournments in the case twice before.

On October 10, the court had asked the government whether a Constitution Bench judgment in the Ram Janmabhoomi case had already settled the question of validity of the Places of Worship Act.

The Ayodhya judgment of the Supreme Court had found that the 1991 Act spoke “to our history and to the future of the nation… In preserving the character of places of public worship, the Parliament has mandated in no uncertain terms that history and its wrongs shall not be used as instruments to oppress the present and the future”.

Mr. Mehta, in that hearing, had ventured his personal opinion that the remarks in the Ayodhya judgment about the 1991 Act would not preclude the court from examining the validity of the statute now.