Pleas concerning the Places of Worship Act, 1991, Supreme Court to hear in April 2025

Today (February 17, 2025), the Supreme Court (SC) bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar deferred the hearing of a batch of pleas concerning the Places of Worship Act, 1991, to April 2025. The bench also directed that the matter will be heard by a three-judge bench headed by the CJI and other two judges including Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan. Some petitions challenge the constitutionality of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, and others seek strict enforcement. During the hearing today, the bench noted that multiple intervention applications had been filed in the main matter. Also, the bench determined that similar writ petitions either challenging the 1991 Act or seeking its implementation have been filed. The bench said, “There is a limit to which it can be filed, there's a number of petitions coming, we will see.” It also directed, “Application for fresh interventions will be allowed given it raised some ground which is not raised as yet.” After hearing the matter, the two-judge bench ordered to list the matter for hearing in the first week of April 2025 before a three-judge bench.