What Supreme Court said on the Places of Worship Act

While transferring the Gyanvapi Mosque case to the District Judge, the Supreme Court on Friday made an important oral observation regarding the Protection of Places of Worship Act, 1991

The Bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, S Kant and P Narasimha orally said that the process of determination of religious character of a place of worship is not prohibited under the Protection of Places of Worship Act

The SC also said that the the District Judge would decide on the matter on priority the Mosque management committee’s plea that the suit is not maintainable because of the bar under the Protection of Places of Worship Act

Last month a court at Varanasi ordered a video survey of the Mosque to find out the veracity of the claim. The order was challenged in the Allahabad High Court, but after the same was rejected the Supreme Court was moved

In their plea, the Muslim side has been referring to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991. It also referred to Section 4 that bars filing any suit or initiating any other legal proceeding for a conversion of their religious character of any place of worship as existing on August 15 1947

Section 3 says, " no person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination or any section thereof into a place of worship of a different section of the same religious denomination or of a different religious denomination or any section thereof"

The Place of Worship (Special Provisions) Act was passed by Parliament and enacted into a law in 1991 during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement