SC grants time to Centre to file reply on pleas challenging law on Places of Worship
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted time till October 31 to the Centre to file its response to a batch of pleas challenging certain provisions of a 1991 law that prohibits filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that the government is seized of it and a comprehensive reply will be filed.
Taking note of the submissions of the top law officer, the bench granted time till October 31 to the Centre to file its reply to the petitions.
"The Centre is taking adjournment after adjournment. Please list it (the plea) for final hearing," BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said.
"The Union of India is asking for an adjournment. Let them file a counter affidavit. Let us see the affidavit of the Centre," the bench said.
The top court also made clear that it has not stayed the operation of the law and asked lawyer Vrinda Grover to share the copy of her petition to the counsel assisting the solicitor general.
On January 9, the top court had asked the central government to file its reply to the PILs against some provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, and had granted it time till the end of February to submit its response.
The top court is seized of six petitions, including the PILs filed by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay and former Rajya Sabha MP Swamy, against the provisions of the law.
Upadhyay has prayed that sections 2, 3, 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 be set aside on grounds, including that these provisions take away the right of judicial remedy to reclaim a place of worship of any person or a religious group.
Earlier, the top court had observed that the pleas challenging the validity of certain provisions of the law can be referred to a five-judge Constitution bench for adjudication.
While Swamy wanted the apex court to "read down" certain provisions to enable Hindus to stake claim over the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi and the Shahi Idgah Mosque in Mathura, Upadhyay claimed the entire statute was unconstitutional and no question of reading down arises.
The doctrine of reading down a law is generally used to save a statute from being struck down on account of its unconstitutionality.
The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, represented by advocate Ejaz Maqbool, had referred to the five-judge Constitution bench judgment in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title case and said the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, has been referred to there and it cannot be set aside now.
The petition alleged that the 1991 law creates an "arbitrary and irrational retrospective cut-off date" of August 15, 1947, for maintaining the character of the places of worship or pilgrimage against encroachment done by "fundamentalist-barbaric invaders and law-breakers".
The 1991 law prohibits conversion of any place of worship and to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
The law had made only one exception -- on the dispute pertaining to the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
