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2024 Supreme(SC) 1172

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Sanjiv Khanna, CJI., SANJAY KUMAR, K.V. VISWANATHAN, JJ.
Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay – Petitioner
VERSUS
Union Of India & Ors. – Respondents
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1246 of 2020
Decided on : 12-12-2024

Advocates appeared:
For the Petitioner(s):Mr. Barun Kumar Sinha, Adv. Mrs. Pratibha Sinha, Adv. Mr. Sneh Vardhan, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Mudgal, Adv. Mr. Pankaj Kumar Shukla, Adv. Mr. Chhail Bihari Singh, Adv. Mr. Ritu Raj, Adv. Mrs. Kanika, Adv. Mr. Abhishek, AOR Mr. Raju Ramachandran, Sr. Adv. Mr. Yusuf Hatim Muchhala, Sr. Adv. Ms. Vrinda Grover, Adv. Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Sagheer A. Khan, Adv. Mr. Shahid Nadeem, Adv. Mr. Mujahid Ahmed, Adv. Mr. Soutik Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Vikram Narayan, Adv. Mr. Saif Zia, Adv. Mr. Aqil Khan, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Vikas Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Ashwani Kumar Dubey, AOR Ms. Deepika Kaliya, Adv. Ms. Vasudha Singh, Adv. Mr. Chandra Shekhar, Adv. Ms. K. Tanushree Rao, Adv. Ms. Samiksha Sharma, Adv. Mr. Vijay Hansaria, Sr. Adv. Mr. Anjani Kumar Mishra, AOR Mrs. Hardeep Mishra, Adv. Mr. Praveen Mishra, Adv. Mr. Krishna Gopal Mishra, Adv. Mr. Tejasvi Goel, Adv. Dr. Subramanian Swamy, Petitioner-in-person Petitioner-in-person Mr. Maninder Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Hari Shankar Jain, Adv. Mr. Vishnu Shankar Jain, AOR Ms. Ashita Chawla, Adv. Mr. Shourya Krishna, Adv. Ms. Mani Munjal, Adv. Ms. Marbiang Khongwir, Adv. Mr. Parth Yadav, Adv. Mr. Rangasaran Mohan, Adv. Mr. Amarpal Singh Dua, Adv.
For the Respondent(s)/ Applicant(s): Mr. Raju Ramachandran, Sr. Adv. Mr. Yusuf Hatim Muchhala, Sr. Adv. Ms. Vrinda Grover, Adv. Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Shahid Nadeem, Adv. Mr. Sagheer A. Khan, Adv. Mr. Mujahid Ahmed, Adv. Mr. Soutik Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Vikram Narayan, Adv. Mr. Saif Zia, Adv. Mr. Aqil Khan, Adv. Mr. Tushar Mehta, S.G. Mr. K.M. Nataraj, A.S.G. Mr. Kanu Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Shailesh Madiyal, Adv. Mr. Sandeep Kumar Mahapatra, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR Ms. Sonia Mathur, Sr. Adv. Ms. Ashmita Bisarya, Adv. Mr. Chandra Shekhar, Adv. Mr. Nirmal Kumar Ambastha, AOR Mr. Sanjay R. Hegde, Sr. Adv. Mr. Anas Tanwir, AOR Mr. Ebad Ur Rahman, Adv. Ms. Masoom Raj Singh, Adv. Ms. Zainab Sheikh, Adv. Mr. Zaid Raza, Adv. Mr. Mayank Suryan, Adv. Mr. Ashish Kumar, Adv. Mr. Ashok Mehta, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rakesh Mishra, AOR Mr. Pankaj Dubey, Adv. Mr. Alok Kumar Pandey, Adv. Ms. Kiran Pandey, Adv. Mr. Pratyaksh Semwal, Adv. Mr. Rizwan Merchant, Adv. Mr. Shubail Farook, Adv. Mr. Anurag Tandon, AOR Mr. Vijay Hansariya, Sr. Adv. Mr. Bijan Kumar Ghosh, AOR Mr. Ujjwal Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Sujoy Mondal, Adv. Mr. Guntur Pramod Kumar, AOR Ms. Prerna Singh, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Yadav, Adv. Mr. Raju Ramachandran, Sr. Adv. Mr. Yusuf Hatim Muchhala, Sr. Adv. Ms. Vrinda Grover, Adv. Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, AOR Mr. Shahid Nadeem, Adv. Mr. Sagheer A. Khan, Adv. Mr. Mujahid Ahmed, Adv. Mr. Soutik Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Vikram Narayan, Adv. Mr. Saif Zia, Adv. Mr. Aqil Khan, Adv. Ms. Nitya Ramakrishnan, Sr. Adv. Ms. Rupali Samuel, Adv. Mr. Yash S. Vijay, AOR Ms. Stuti Rai, Adv. Ms. Pooja B Mehta, Adv. Mr. Kabir Dixit, AOR Mr. Salman Khurshid, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sarim Naved, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Sagar, Adv. Mr. Zeeshan Ahmad, Adv. Ms. Lubna Naz, Adv. Ms. Sugandha Anand, AOR Mr. Huzefa A. Ahmadi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ibad Mushtaq, Adv. Ms. Akanksha Rai, Adv. Mr. Mohammad Nizamuddin Pasha, Adv. Ms. Gurneet Kaur, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Singh, Adv. Ms. Rupali Samuel, Adv. Mr. Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, AOR Mr. C.U. Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ujjwal Singh, AOR Ms. Tasmiya Taleha, Adv. Ms. Bidya Mohanty, Adv. Ms. Viddusshi Shandilya, Adv. Ms. Katyayani Suhrud, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Kalaiyarasan, Adv. Mr. Aruneshwar Gupta, Sr. Adv. Mr. Keshav Kumar, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Sharma, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Singh, AOR Mr. J. Sai Deepak, Sr. Adv. Mr. V. Shyamohan, Adv. Ms. Shaktiki Sharma, Adv. Mr. Avinash Sharma, Adv. Ms. Anshika Bajpai, Adv. M/s. KMNP Law, AOR Mr. Dhawal Uniyal, AOR Mr. Azad Singh Khokher, Adv. Mr. Kislay Panday, Adv. Ms. Pinky Anand, Sr. Adv. Mr. Balendu Shekhar, Adv. Ms. Saudamini Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sampat Pasriccha, Adv. Mr. Rajkumar Maurya, Adv. Ms. Nayoleeka Purty, Adv. Mr. Jayant Kashyap, Adv. Mr. Sumit Teterrwal, AOR Ms. Bharti Tyagi, AOR Mr. Vikash Kumar, Adv. Mr. D.K. Singh, Adv. Mr. Dushyant A. Dave, Sr. Adv. Mr. Akshat Malpani, Adv. Ms. Ayushi Gaur, Adv. Mr. Krishna Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. Aman Sinha, Sr. Adv. Mr. Atulesh Kumar, AOR Ms. Nupoor Sinha, Adv. Mr. Maurya Vijay Chandra, Adv. Mr. S.N. Shrivastav, Adv. Mr. Santosh Kumar, Adv. Ms. Bhavya Tyagi, Adv. Ms. Astha Arya, Adv. Ms. Tasneem Ahmadi, Adv. Mr. Mehmood Pracha, Adv. Mr. R.H.A. Sikander, AOR Mr. Jatin Bhatt, Adv. Ms. Mahima Rathi, Adv. Ms. Pragya Rathi, Adv. Mr. Sanawar Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Kshitij Singh, Adv. Ms. Nuzhat Naseem, Adv. Ms. Sadiya Sultan, Adv. Mr. Mohd. Saleem, Adv. Mr. Mohd. Khurshid, Adv. Mr. Faisal Mohammad, Adv. Mr. Mohd. Danish, Adv. Mr. Mohd. Shameem, Adv. Mr. Mohd. Hasan, Adv. Ms. Heema Sahoo, Adv. Mr. Aditya Sharma, AOR Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv. Ms. Fauzia Shakil, AOR Mr. Amit Bhandari, Adv. Mr. Shiv Sagar Tiwari, AOR Mr. Haris Beeran, Adv. Mr. Azhar Assees, Adv. Mr. Anand B. Menon, Adv. Mr. Radha Shyam Jena, AOR Mr. Guru Krishna Kumar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Nachiketa Joshi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, Adv. Mr. Santosh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Praneet Pranav, Adv. Mrs. Rajshri Dubey, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Rahul Tanwani, Adv. Mr. Vikash Shukla, Adv. Mr. Amit P Shahi, Adv. Mr. Sudipto Sircar, Adv. Ms. Aditi Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv. Mr. Amit Sharma, Adv. Mr. Raghu Vamsy, Adv. Ms. Sindhoora VNL, Adv. Mr. Aishwarya Vikram, Adv. Mr. Shashibhushan Nagar, Adv. Mr. Rahul Sethi, Adv. Mr. H.B. Dubey, Adv. Mr. Manish Dhingra, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Yadav, Adv. Ms. Smridhi Varma, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Dubey, AOR Mr. P.V. Dinesh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Zulfiker Ali P.S., AOR Mr. Mohammad Thoyyib Hudawi, Adv. Ms. Lakshmi Sree P., Adv. Ms. Lebina Baby, Adv. Mr. Salman Khurshid, Sr. Adv. Mrs. Vibha Datta Makhija, Sr. Adv. Mr. Shariq Ahmed, Adv. Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, Adv. Mr. Tariq Ahmed, Adv. Ms. Lubna Naaz, Adv. Mr. Karan Mamgain, Adv. M/s. Ahmadi Law Offices, AOR Applicant-in-person, AOR Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sadashiv, AOR Mr. Rajendra Prasad Swarnkar, Adv. Mr. Ashish Singh, Adv. Mr. Fatesh Kumar Sahu, Adv. Mr. Devendra Kumar Gupta, Adv. Mr. Sachin Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Ashish Kumar Pandey, Adv. Ms. Pushpa Gupta, Adv. Mr. Nempal Singh, Adv. Ms. Vandana, Adv. Ms. Charanjeet Sidhu, Adv. Mr. Mansoor Ali, AOR Mr. Anoop Prakash Awasthi, Adv./AOR Mr. Subhash Jha, Adv. Mr. Siddharth Jha, Adv. Ms. Apeksha Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sumeet Upadhyay, Adv. Ms. Shruti Yadav, Adv. Ms. Indira Jaising, Sr. Adv. Ms. Disha Wadekar, Adv. Mr. Yash S. Vijay, Adv./AOR Mr. Paras Nath, Adv. Mr. Sadeeq, Adv. Mr. Rohin Bhat, Adv. Mr. Shadan Farasat, Sr. Adv. Mr. Harshit Anand, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Babbar, Adv. Mr. Sanman Vardhan Gautam, Adv. Mr. Yash S. Vijay, Adv./AOR Mr. C.S. Vaidyanathan, Sr. Adv. [Online appearance/physical appearance slip not received.] Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv. [Online appearance/physical appearance slip not received.]

The Court directed the Union of India to file a counter affidavit regarding the enforcement of the Places of Worship Act, establishing procedural safeguards for pending litigation.

Headnote:(A) Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 - Sections 3 and 4 - Implementation and enforcement of the Act - The Union of India is directed to file a counter affidavit within four weeks regarding the enforcement of the Act, with notice issued in the writ petition. (Paras 4, 11)

(B) Procedural Directions - The Court has appointed Nodal Counsels for coordination among parties and directed that no fresh suits shall be registered until further orders. (Paras 8, 12)

Facts of the case:
The writ petition seeks the implementation of the 1991 Act, with the Union of India required to respond to the petitioners regarding its enforcement.

Findings of Court:
The Court has established a framework for the submission of pleadings and coordination among parties through appointed Nodal Counsels.

Issues: The primary issue involves the interpretation of Sections 3 and 4 of the 1991 Act and the implications for pending suits.

Ratio Decidendi: The Court emphasized the need for a coordinated response from the Union of India and established procedural safeguards for pending litigation.

Result: The matter is to be re-listed on 17.02.2025.

ORDER

All applications for intervention/impleadment are allowed, subject to all just exceptions.

2. The amended memo of parties will be filed within four weeks from today.

3. The Union of India, which has not filed its counter affidavit/ reply, shall file the same within four weeks from today.

4. It is noted that in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 782/2022, which seeks the implementation and enforcement of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991 [For short, “The 1991 Act.”], notice was issued, vide order dated 09.09.2022. A counter affidavit/reply has not yet been filed.

5. As noted in the order dated 11.07.2023, it has been stated on behalf of the Union of India that a common affidavit in reply and response to the entire batch of cases will be filed.

6. Copies of the said counter affidavit/reply will be served on the petitioners and the respondents, who may file their rejoinder(s)/response(s) thereto within four weeks from the date of service of the counter affidavit/reply.

7. Once filed, a copy of the said counter affidavit/reply of the Union of India shall be uploaded on the Google Drive link to be created by Mr. Kanu Agarwal, Advocate-on-Record, who is the Nodal Counsel for the Union of India in the present matter. The said link will then be circulated to all the concerned Advocates-on-Record in the present case, including those for the newly impleaded parties.

8. Mr. Vishnu Shankar Jain, Advocate-on-Record, is appointed as the Nodal Counsel on behalf of the writ petitioners challenging the validity of the 1991 Act. Mr. Ejaz Maqbool, Advocate-on-Record, is appointed as the Nodal Counsel on behalf of the petitioners/intervenors who seek enforcement of the 1991 Act or are opposing the writ petitions challenging the validity of the 1991 Act.

9. All the pleadings/documents to be filed in the present matter shall also be sent to the Nodal Counsel on the email id: inrewritpetition559of2020@gmail.com. All the Nodal Counsel will have access to the said email ID to facilitate coordination.

10. This Court, vide order dated 12.10.2022, had referred to the submissions of the parties, formulating several questions of law. During the course of the hearing, it was pointed out that several other aspects and issues would also arise for consideration.

11. The primary issue, that arises for consideration, is with regard to Sections 3 and 4 of the 1991 Act and its contours, as well as the width and expanse of the said provisions.

12. As the matter is sub judice before this Court, we deem it appropriate to direct that, though fresh suits may be filed, no suits would be registered and no proceedings shall be undertaken therein till further orders of this Court.

13. Further, in the pending suits, no Court will pass any effective interim orders or final orders, including orders directing surveys, etc., till the next date of hearing/further orders of this Court.

14. Re-list on 17.02.2025.

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