New Delhi, Jan 5 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking to restrain Prime Minister Narendra Modi from offering a ceremonial chadar at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah during the 814th annual Urs of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi held that the issue raised in the petition was not justiciable and, in any event, had become infructuous as the chadar offering had already taken place.
“This is infructuous now. This is not a justiciable issue. No issue raised is justiciable. The writ petition is dismissed,” the Court observed.
However, the Bench clarified that its order would not affect a civil suit pending before an Ajmer court concerning the Dargah. “Suit is pending, pursue it. This order shall have no bearing on the pending civil suit,” the Court said.
The Court also noted that offering a chadar at the Ajmer Sharif Dargah is a long-standing tradition that has been followed by previous Prime Ministers.
The petition was linked to an earlier application filed before the Ajmer court by Vishnu Gupta, then president of Hindu Sena, as part of a pending suit claiming that the Ajmer Sharif Dargah was built on the site of a demolished Shiva temple.
Gupta had contended that the Central government’s act of sending a chadar to what he described as a “disputed structure” undermined judicial independence and the right to a fair trial while the matter was sub judice.
