The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a plea to restrain Prime Minister Narendra Modi from offering the traditional chadar at the tomb of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti at the Ajmer dargah in Rajasthan.

The court said the matter was “not justiciable” and had become “infructuous” since the latest event had already taken place.

Hindu claimants insist that the dargah was built after destroying an ancient Shiva temple.

Successive Prime Ministers have offered the chadar at the dargah over the decades. Union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju offered a chadar at Ajmer Sharif on behalf of the central government on December 22 last year and also delivered Modi’s message of peace and
communal harmony as mentioned in the teachings of Chishti.

On Monday, when the petition, filed on December 22, 2025, came up for hearing, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi refused to entertain it.

“This matter is infructuous…. This matter is not justiciable, we would not make any comment,” the bench orally told the counsel as soon as the matter came up for hearing.

Counsel Barun Kumar Singh, representing Jitender Singh, the president of the Vishwa Vedica Sangathan, and Vishnu Gupta, representing the Hindu Sena, sought to plead that a civil suit relating to the disputed site was also
pending before a local court.

The counsel explained that a civil court in Rajasthan is seized of a complaint filed by Gupta, claiming that the shrine land was part of an ancient Hindu temple to Lord Shiva.

CJI Kant, however, said the petitioners were free to pursue civil remedy before the appropriate court and the apex court’s decision not to entertain the writ petition would not have a bearing on those proceedings.

The local court had earlier issued notices to the Centre, the Archaeological Survey of India and local authorities over the claim and the matter is pending adjudication.

The petitioners have contended that the Prime Minister offering the chadar while the dispute was pending would send a wrong message and the Constitution too did not permit such traditions.

It was the case of the petitioner before the Supreme Court that since the suit relating to the claims made by the Hindu groups was pending, the Prime Minister should not be seen offering the chadar at the shrine as “it would cause prejudice” to the rights of the
plaintiffs and hurt the sentiments of lakhs of devotees.

According to the plaintiffs, architectural remains and the surroundings of the dargah suggested the existence of a Hindu shrine.