New Delhi, Jan 16 The Congress has filed an application before the Supreme Court seeking intervention in the batch of petitions challenging the validity of Places of Worship Act, which prohibits the filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.
The plea stated that the Places of Worship Act was enacted by the Parliament, as it reflected the mandate of the Indian populace, and was envisaged prior to 1991 and the same was made a part of the Congress’s then-election manifesto for the Parliamentary elections.
It added that the 1991 Act was essential to safeguard secularism in India and the present petitions challenging the validity of the Places of Worship Act appear to be a motivated and malicious attempt to undermine established principles of secularism.
“The POWA (Places of Worship Act) plays a pivotal role in furthering the right to freedom of religion and protects secularism, which is an established basic feature of the Constitution,” stated the application.
Further, it said that the law promotes equality amongst all religious groups does not accord special treatment towards specific communities and is equally applicable towards places of worship of all religious groups and ascertains and affixes their nature as on August 15, 1947.
The application also said that Congress, a recognised national party, is the oldest functioning political party of the country and is currently the principal opposition party in Parliament, adding that since its inception, it has fought for the rights and welfare of the Indian populace.
The CJI Sanjiv Khanna-led Special Bench, in an interim order, passed on December 12, had ordered that no fresh suits would be registered under the Places of Worship Act, 1991 in the country, and in the pending cases, no final or effective orders would be passed till further orders.
The Special Bench, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan, had asked the Union government to file within four weeks its reply to the batch of petitions challenging the validity of the Places of Worship Act, 1991.
--IANS
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