The Gyanvapi Mosque management committee has moved the Supreme Court to oppose several pending petitions that challenge the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
The 1991 law prohibits the conversion of any place of worship and provides for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.
The law, however, made only one exception — dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
The top court has already seized about six petitions, including the PILs filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay and former Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, against certain provisions of the law.
The committee of management, Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, Varanasi, in its plea filed through lawyer Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, filed an intervention application in the top court seeking dismissal of the pending pleas against the 1991 law on the ground that they were based on “rhetorical and communal claims” that could disrupt communal harmony and the rule of law.
The committee of management, Anjuman Intezamia Masajid, Varanasi, in its plea filed through lawyer Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, filed an intervention application in the top court seeking dismissal of the pending pleas against the 1991 law on the ground that they were based on “rhetorical and communal claims” that could disrupt communal harmony and the rule of law.
“That without lending much credence to the rhetorical claims made in the petition, the purported grievance of the petitioner, as regards ancient rulers of the past, cannot be addressed by this hon’ble court nor is a valid ground for challenging the constitutional validity of the 1991 Act,” the plea stated.
The committee said the pleas challenging a legislative enactment must indicate the unconstitutionality of the provisions based on constitutional principles.