Connect with us
Tuesday,22-April-2025
Breaking News

National

SC refuses to entertain fresh PIL against Places of Worship Act 1991

Published

on

New Delhi, April 1: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the constitutional validity of a provision of the Places of Worship Act, 1991.

In the alternative, a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar suggested the PIL litigant to move an intervention application in the pending clutch of pleas challenging the validity of the contentious law, which prohibits the filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.

The CJI Khanna-led Special Bench, in an interim order passed on December 12, 2024, ordered that no fresh suits would be registered under the Places of Worship Act in the country, and in the pending cases, no final or effective orders would be passed till further orders.

As per the latest petition filed through advocate Shweta Sinha, Section 4(2) of the 1991 Act is manifestly arbitrary, irrational and violative of Articles 14, 21, 25, and 26 of the Constitution.

“This provision not only closes the doors of mediation but also takes away the power of the judiciary. The legislature cannot take away the power of the judiciary to preside over disputes. This has been done through colourable legislation,” stated the plea.

In March 2021, a Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde sought the Centre’s response to the plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay challenging the validity of certain provisions of the law, prohibiting the filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.

The plea said: “The 1991 Act was enacted in the garb of ‘public order’, which is a state subject (Schedule-7, List-II, Entry-1) and ‘places of pilgrimages within India’ is also a state subject (Schedule-7, List-II, Entry-7). So, the Centre can’t enact the Law. Moreover, Article 13(2) prohibits the State from making a law to take away fundamental rights, but the 1991 Act takes away the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs, to restore their ‘places of worship and pilgrimages’, destroyed by barbaric invaders.”

“The Act excludes the birthplace of Lord Rama but includes the birthplace of Lord Krishna, though both are incarnations of Lord Vishnu, the creator and equally worshipped throughout the world, hence, it is arbitrary,” it added.

Crime

Why Bengal govt is taking time to implement SC’s order on cancellation of school jobs: Calcutta HC

Published

on

Kolkata, April 21: The Calcutta High Court, on Monday, observed why the West Bengal government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) are taking time to implement the order by the Supreme Court (SC), cancelling 25,753 teaching and non-teaching jobs in state-run schools.

Acting on a contempt-of-court petition filed against the state government and WBSSC for not implementing the apex court order, Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi also directed the state government and the commission to explain to the court within a day.

The next hearing on the matter will be on April 23, and the state government and the commission will have to submit their explanations on the same day.

Last year, the same division bench of Justice Basak and Justice Rashidi cancelled 25,753 teaching and non-teaching jobs, which is the entire panel of WBSSC for 2016. The state government approached the SC challenging the order.

Earlier this month, the SC division bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld the order of the Calcutta High Court and also accepted the observation that the entire panel had to be cancelled because of the failure on the part of the state government and the commission to segregate the “genuine” candidates from the “tainted” ones.

Thereafter, the contempt of court petition was filed at the same division bench of the Calcutta High Court, accusing the state government and the commission of not even initiating the termination of jobs of those who have already been identified as “tainted” by the commission itself.

During the hearing in the matter on Monday, the division bench observed that there will be problems if even the “tainted” candidates continue receiving their salaries.

On Monday, the division bench also raised the question of why the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials are not interrogating those candidates who have already been identified as “tainted.”

The division bench also observed that the CBI should find out how those who were paid money by the “tainted” candidates against jobs.

On Wednesday, the CBI counsel will also have to give an explanation to the court in the matter.

Continue Reading

Exclusive

Calcutta HC allows NGO to distribute relief material in communal violence-hit Murshidabad

Published

on

Kolkata, April 17: A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Thursday, permitted a non-government organisation (NGO) to visit the communal violence-hit Murshidabad and distribute relief material among the affected people.

While granting permission to the NGO christened ‘Khola Hawa (Open Air)’, which was earlier denied permission by the district administration, the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha observed that there was no rule that organisations other than government bodies would not have permission to distribute relief materials at any place.

She also observed that the existing law and order problem could not be an excuse for denying permission, since the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) were already posted in Murshidabad.

The NGO approached the bench of Justice Sinha after the Murshidabad district magistrate denied permission for its members to visit the troubled spots in the district to distribute relief there. Parts of Murshidabad district in West Bengal have been on the boil last week after protests over the Waqf (Amendment) Act turned violent.

In the petition, the NGO alleged that while the district administration was allowing different political parties to reach the troubled spots with relief materials, the permission to the organisation was deliberately denied.

The matter came up for hearing on Thursday afternoon. The counsel for the NGO argued that there was no reason for the district magistrate to deny the permission since the state Director General of Police had already claimed that the situation at Murshidabad was currently more or less normal. “The NGO members want to go there to distribute relief items like tarpaulin, food, and medicines to those affected,” the counsel of Khola Hawa argued.

Although the state government opposed the arguments, Justice Sinha finally accepted the argument of the counsel of Khola Hawa and permitted the NGO to visit the troubled spots and distribute relief items there.

However, she maintained that only three members of a relief team should visit any troubled spot at a time for the time being. At the same time, these three team members would have to inform the district magistrate at least 24 hours in advance about their visit. The visiting team members, as per the court order, should also not make any provocative statements during the process of relief distribution that might trigger tension in the area again.

Continue Reading

National

Ghulam Nabi Azad dissolves all committees of his party in J&K

Published

on

Srinagar, April 14: Former Chief Minister and Chairman of Democratic Azad Party (DAP), Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday dissolved all state, province, district and block level committees of his party.

Bashir Arif, secretary to Gulam Nabi Azad, said the DAP chairman has dissolved all state, province, district and block level committees, and the reconstitution will take place in due course.

Ghulam Nabi Azad parted ways with the Congress party, with which he remained associated for over 40 years.

He was the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha as a Congress MP in 2014, and after his term of office ended, he announced that he was parting ways with the Congress that had become a ‘family driven affair’ for the mother and son.

He launched the Democratic Azad Party (DAP) from Jammu and Kashmir on September 26, 2022, saying “it will not be autocratic, but democratic”.

“The DAP will be based on the principles of democracy. It will not be influenced by any outside leader or other party. It will have independent thinking and will stay independent in its decisions. It will not be autocratic and power will not be in one hand,” Azad said on the party’s launch day.

He quit Congress on August 26, 2022, after over four decades of association, following differences with the party high command.

However, none of the leaders from the G23, a rebel group within the Congress, was present at the party launch. He had suggested launching a national-level party rather than a regional party.

DAP fought the J&K Assembly elections last year, but could not manage to win a single seat in the 90-member Legislative Assembly.

After the complete defeat in the Assembly elections, many leaders of Azad’s party left the party to rejoin Congress.

Prominent among them are Taj Mohiuddin and some other former ministers in the Congress rule in J&K.

Continue Reading

Trending