SC RESTRAINS COURTS FROM PASSING ORDERS

18 suits pending against 10 mosques or shrines | No fresh suits can be registered till further orders

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The Supreme Court on Thursday restrained all courts across the country from passing any effective interim or final order including orders of survey in pending suits against existing religious structures.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justices PV Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan also ordered that no fresh suits can be registered over such claims while the court is hearing pleas challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

“As the matter is sub-judice before this court, we deem it fit to direct that while suits may be filed, no suits would be registered and proceedings undertaken till further orders of this court. In the pending suits, courts would not pass any effective interim order or final orders, including orders of survey,” the bench ordered.

The apex court was informed that at present 18 suits are pending in the country against 10 mosques or shrines.

The bench also granted four weeks to Centre to file an affidavit in a batch of petitions challenging certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991, 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.