In a notable directive issued on Thursday, the Supreme Court instructed trial courts nationwide to refrain from passing effective orders or conducting surveys concerning existing religious structures in cases challenging their religious character.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, Justice PV Sanjay Kumar, and Justice KV Viswanathan stated that the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991 clearly prohibits the filing of such suits, and these cases cannot proceed until the validity of the 1991 law is determined.

The Bench further highlighted that this position was reaffirmed in the Ayodhya verdict by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.

"As the matter is sub-judice before this court we deem it fit to direct that no fresh suits shall be registered or proceedings be ordered. In the pending suits, courts would not pass any effective order or final orders. When a matter is pending before us, is it just and fair for any other court to examine it. We are on vires as well as ambit of the act," the Court directed.

The Bench further stated that no new suits can be registered regarding such claims.

"The matter is sub justice. No further suits cannot be registered till we hear and dispose of the case," the Court said.

The Court was hearing a series of petitions challenging the provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991. Among the petitioners is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashwini Upadhyay, who had filed a plea in 2021, asserting that the Act perpetuates the illegal actions of invaders who took over religious places, thereby denying legal remedies to Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs aggrieved by such actions.

In June 2022, the Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind filed an application seeking to be impleaded in the case, arguing that Upadhyay's petition indirectly targets Islamic places of worship. Other petitions challenging the Act have also been filed, including by the Vishwa Bhadra Pujari Purohit Mahasangh, and several impleadment petitions have since been submitted.

The law, introduced during the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, aims to protect the status of all religious structures as they stood in August 1947, barring courts from entertaining disputes over the religious character of such places. The Act also mandates that any pending cases of this nature be abated.

However, it carved out an exception for the Ram Janmabhoomi site, which led to its inclusion in the 2019 Supreme Court verdict that awarded the disputed site in Ayodhya to the child deity Ram Lalla.

While the Ayodhya case was exempted, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that similar disputes regarding other sites cannot be entertained under the provisions of the Act.

The outcome of this case may impact ongoing lawsuits filed by Hindu plaintiffs claiming rights over properties housing Muslim mosques, alleging these mosques were built over ancient temples.

These suits include matters related to the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, the Shahi Eidgah Masjid in Mathura, and the Ajmer Dargah in Rajasthan, where Muslim parties have opposed the maintainability of such suits, citing the Places of Worship Act.