New Delhi: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has moved the Supreme Court opposing a batch of petitions challenging the validity of certain provisions of a 1991 law that prohibit 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.
In its impleadment application, the AIMPLB told the top court that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 is a “progressive legislation” in line with the secular values of Indian polity and promotes harmony, public tranquillity and peace amongst the different sections of the people.
A bench headed by Chief Justice UU Lalit is scheduled to hear on October 11 a batch of petitions questioning the validity of certain provisions of the 1991 law.
The Muslim body in its application filed through advocate MR Shamshad contended that the Act does not violate any cultural rights of any section of the people and is based on the fundamental features of the Constitution which are unamendable.
Therefore, any attempt to repeal the said Act or to amend the same annihilating the basic aims and objects or principles on which the said Act is based would be “unconstitutional and thus void”, the AIMPLB contended.
The impleadment application filed in the matter of ‘Vishwa Bhadra Purjari Purohit Mahasangh’ and others claimed that hearing the petitions challenging the validity of the law will only create problems on the ground and alleged that the litigants have a “political agenda”.
It added that “the Act is conceived to promote harmony amongst the different sections of the people and prevent the breach of public order and promote public tranquility and peace.
“The Act, therefore, does not violate any cultural rights of any section of the people. The Act envisages peaceful co-existence and thereby promotes the diversity of cultures in our country. The Act achieves the objective of promoting syncretic culture (Ganga-Jamuna Tehzeeb) which is the basic ethos of Indian culture”.
The AIMPLB claims that there are innumerable instances in history where the Jains and Buddhist places of worship have been converted to Hindu temples as well as Muslim places of worship have been converted to Gurudwaras and Hindu places of worship have been converted to mosques.
The Muslim body further said that the object and the purpose of the Act were to put an end to ancient and stale claims relating to the places of worship.
It said any dispute relating to a place of worship between different communities is highly sensitive and endangers the breach of public order and disturbs the peace and tranquility of the society.
“Our country has witnessed blood baths after the controversy erupted in respect of Babri Masjid”, it said and referred to the finding of the Srikrishna Commission set up to enquire into the causes of the riots in Mumbai in December 1992 and January 1993 and the causes of the bomb blast that occurred in March 1993.
It said that the unequivocal finding of the Commission is that the December 1992 riots were due to the hurt feeling that the Muslims felt by the “shameful act of demolition of Babri Masjid” on December 6, 1992.
On September 9, the top court had said that the pleas challenging the validity of certain provisions of a 1991 law can be referred to a five-judge constitution bench for adjudication and had asked the Centre to file a reply to the PILs questioning the law.
The top court, on March 12 last year, had sought the Centre’s response to one of the pleas filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay challenging the validity of certain provisions of the law which maintain the status quo concerning ownership and the character of religious places as prevailing on August 15, 1947.
The 1991 provision is an Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
The law had made only one exception – on the dispute pertaining to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri masjid at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.
