Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Sept 9: The Supreme Court will hear arguments contesting the Places of Worship Act on October 11. The appeals will be heard by a three-judge panel.
All applications, including the one submitted by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, were granted permission to intervene in the hearing of the arguments about the legality of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 by a three-judge bench chaired by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit.
The parties were urged to finish their pleadings by that date by the bench, which also included Justices S Ravindra Bhat and P S Narasimha. On October 11, a three-judge panel was appointed to hear the cases.
One of the petitioner’s attorneys claimed that the Places of Worship Act was being interpreted by the courts in Kashi and Mathura.
UU Lalit, the Chief Justice of India (CJI), asserted that the supreme court could not halt the legal processes in Mathura and Kashi.
“Let those proceedings continue,” he said.
The CJI noted that the Centre has not yet responded to the petitions contesting the provisions of the Places of Worship Act. The Solicitor General has also requested more time to submit a response.
Notably, on March 12 of last year, the Supreme Court sought the Center’s answer to one of the arguments made by attorney Ashwini Upadhyay challenging the validity of certain provisions of the law which provides maintaining the status quo with regard to ownership and the character of religious places as prevailing on August 15, 1947.
