NEW DELHI: Akhil Bhartiya Sant Samiti, which claims to represent 18.5 lakh pujaris and 12 lakh saints, moved Supreme Court in support of petitioners seeking scrapping of Places of Worship Act.
The petitioner, an organisation of 127 sects of Sanatan Dharma, sought impleadment in pending cases filed by BJP’s Ashwini Upadhyay, Subramanian Swamy and other Hindu outfits challenging validity of the law which bars litigation to change the character of a religious place from what it was at the time of Independence.
“The applicant is also seeking similar relief – to declare Sections 3 and 4 of Places of Worship Act as void and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 15, 21, 25, 26 and 29 of the Constitution in so far as it seeks to validate ‘places of worship’ illegally made by barbaric invaders. Sections 3 and 4 violate principles of natural justice and secularism, which is the basic structure of the Constitution,” the organisation said in its petition.
“The arbitrary cut-off date of Aug 15, 1947, by the Act to determine the status of places of worship disregards historical facts and injustices and denies right to redress for encroachments,” the petitioner said. It said pilgrimage was a state subject and Centre could neither restrain Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs from taking over possession of their places of worship and pilgrimage through judicial process nor could it make laws to abridge their rights, particularly with retrospective effect.
