Khushi Bajpai
Published on: August 31, 2022 at 20:53 IST
The Supreme Court ordered status quo with respect to land use of Eidgah Maidan in Bengaluru’s Chamarajpet, in effect putting in abeyance the move of the Karnataka government to allow Ganesh Chaturthi festivals on the land.
The bench comprising Justices Indira Banerjee, AS Oka, and MM Sundresh orally remarked, “For 200 years it was not done, you also admit, so why not status quo, for 200 years whatever was not held, let it be.”
“The bench orally said that the pooja should be held somewhere else,” the bench orally said
The order passed by the bench stated that, “The writ petition is pending before the bench of the high court and has been fixed for hearing on 23.09.2022. All questions/issues may be agitated in the high court.”
“In the meanwhile, status quo, as of date, with regard to the land in question shall be maintained by both the parties. The special leave petition is, accordingly, disposed of.”
The matter was heard by a 3-judge following “difference of opinion” between the previous bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia.
The bench was constituted after senior advocate Dushyant Dave appearing for the Eidgah made an urgent mentioning before CJI UU Lalit, stating that if the matter is not heard today, 200 years of status quo will be disturbed.
Dave submitted that under Section 3 of the Place of Worship Act, there is an absolute bar against the conversion of use of religious land for any other religion.
The Muslim community claimed that they have been in undisputed possession of the land since 1871, which was used as place of worship. Articles 25 and 26 expressly protect the right of religious minorities to possess their properties.
The Karnataka board of Auqaf and the Muslim Association of Karnataka approached the Supreme Court against the Karnataka high court’s August 27 verdict, which allowed the use of Bengaluru’s Idgah maidan for cultural and religious activities for a short period of time. Following that, the state government passed an order allowing Ganesh Chaturthi rituals on the land.