'Unwarranted', SC should intervene: CPI(M) slams court notice on Ajmer shrine

The CPI(M) on Thursday described as "unwarranted" and "without legal standing" a local Rajasthan court's decision to entertain a petition seeking a survey of the Ajmer Sharif shrine, and sought the Supreme Court's immediate intervention in the matter. A local court in Ajmer on Wednesday directed that notices be issued to the dargah committee, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Archaeological Survey of India in a civil suit claiming there was a Shiva temple in the shrine of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti.

The suit, filed in September, sought directions to start worship at the site.

In a statement on Thursday, the CPI(M) said, "The decision of a civil court in Ajmer, Rajasthan, to entertain a petition seeking a survey of the Ajmer Sharif dargah to ascertain if there was a temple beneath it is unwarranted and has no legal standing. It goes against the provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which decrees that no legal dispute can be raised on a religious place that existed prior to August 15, 1947."


"The violation of this Act has already resulted in the flawed decision with regard to the survey of the masjid in Sambhal that has led to violence and the death of five persons," it said.

The notice came days after four people were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal in violence following a local court ordering a survey of a Mughal-era shrine, which petitioners said was built after destroying an old temple.

The Left party also said that the Supreme Court must immediately intervene to put an end to such legal proceedings, in line with the Places of Worship Act, which the apex court itself had upheld in its 2019 Ayodhya judgment.

The Places of Worship Act states that the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947, must be maintained.