The Indian National Congress has filed an application in the Supreme Court opposing the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.
The political party has moved an intervention application in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay.
Terming the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Act as a motivated and malicious attempt to undermine the established principles of secularism, the intervention plea submitted that it was an essential tool to safeguard secularism in India.
It further emphasised on the constitutional and societal significance of the Act, stating that any alterations to it could jeopardise India’s communal harmony and secular fabric, thus threatening the sovereignty and integrity of the nation.
The political party submitted that it was instrumental in enacting the law when the party, along with Janata Dal, were in the majority in the Lok Sabha. The party stood committed to the principles of secularism, it asserted.
Congress sought intervention in the matter on the grounds that since it was responsible for the introduction and passage of the PoW Act, through its elected members, it may be allowed to intervene and defend the legal validity of the passage of the Act.
Alleging that Upadhyay’s plea has been filed with oblique and questionable motives, the party contended that the Places of Worship Act was essential for communal harmony and cordial relations amongst all communities in the country.
The petition filed by Upadhyay contended that the Act was discriminatory as it was applicable only towards the members of the Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist communities.
The intervention plea submitted that a bare perusal of the Act showed that it promoted equality amongst all religious groups and did not accord any special treatment towards specific communities, as alleged by the petitioner. It was equally applicable towards places of worship of all religious groups, and ascertained & affixed their nature as on August 15, 1947, it added.
Earlier, the Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind had approached the Apex Court, seeking to be added as a party in Upadhyay’s plea.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) head Asaduddin Owaisi has also moved the top court of the country seeking implementation of the Act.
The Apex Court had directed trial courts in December 2024 to refrain from issuing any substantive orders or conducting surveys of existing religious structures in cases challenging their religious character, pending the outcome of the challenge to the Act.