New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday admitted a public interest litigation (PIL) which wants Islamic and Shariat courts in India to be abolished.
Delhi lawyer Vishwa Lochan Madan’s PIL says that Shariat courts must be scrapped because they challenge the country’s judicial system. The PIL, which was filed in 2005, says clerics had hijacked these courts and by their fatwas were not allowing the law to function.
It wants the Supreme Court to declare that fatwas have no legal sanction and stop Shariat courts from interfering with the marital status of Indian Muslims
The Centre told a bench comprising Justice A K Mathur and Justice Dalveer Bhandari that Islamic courts have only an advisory role and they cannot interfere with the main judicial system.
Fatwas issued by clerics are "advisory" and are not mandatory," the law ministry said. The Dar-ul-Qaza and Nizam-ul-Qaza (Muslim courts) are "not a parallel judicial system".
The court issued notices to the Centre, the All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Islamic seminary Darul Uloom and the governments of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi.
The PIL clains that the AIMPLB has set up Darul Qaza (Muslim Courts) in Thane and Akola in Maharashtra, Dholiya in Rajasthan, Indore, South and East Delhi, Asansol, Purulia, Lucknow and Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh).
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