India’s Supreme Court is preparing for an urgent hearing on a significant constitutional question: Can school grounds, considered secular public spaces, be used for religious celebrations like Ramlila?
On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, a three-judge bench led by Justice Surya Kant agreed to fast-track a challenge against an Allahabad High Court order. This order had halted Ramlila festivities at a school in Uttar Pradesh, sparking a debate on the appropriate use of public educational facilities for religious events. The case is scheduled for hearing on September 25, following an oral submission against the High Court’s ex parte stay.
The Allahabad High Court’s September 22 order noted that the Ramlila celebrations, spearheaded by the Coordinator of Shree Nagar Ram Lila Mahotsav, would “interfere” with ongoing school activities. The court observed that a “huge stage” had been erected and interlocking tiles laid on the school ground. When asked if sports activities could still take place, state authorities conceded “No,” leading the High Court to deem the diversion of the school ground for festival use “ex-facie illegal.”
However, legal counsel for the event organizers argued before the Supreme Court that the High Court’s injunction was issued without giving the Ramlila organizers a chance to present their side.
This isn’t the first time such a dilemma has reached the Supreme Court. Back in July 2018, a similar case, Jyoti Jagran Mandal versus NDMC, was referred to a Constitution Bench by a Division Bench led by the now-retired Justice Rohinton F. Nariman. That case concerned an appeal against a National Green Tribunal (NGT) decision denying permission for a religious event, Mata-ki-Chowki, in a public park in Delhi. The appellant had contended that similar events like Ramlila and Durga Puja were permitted in public parks.
The 2018 Bench recognized that the appeal raised a matter of “great constitutional importance” regarding the permissibility of such activities on state-owned land, given India’s secular Constitution. The core issue involves balancing children’s fundamental right to education (enshrined in Article 21A) with the freedom to practice religion (under Article 25).
The Supreme Court has previously highlighted that the right to education is a vital part of the Directive Principles of State Policy, affirming that “compulsory and primary education is treated as a part of Article 21 [right to life] of the Constitution,” which underpinned the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2010.
Numerous High Courts have grappled with the question of whether various public spaces, including playgrounds and parks, should be used for religious gatherings.
For instance, a 2023 ruling by the Calcutta High Court in Sudarsan Mandal versus The State Of West Bengal firmly stated that a school playground, even if part of a government institution, “could by no stretch of imagination be used to hold festivals.” The court emphasized that a school’s premises, as an educational institution, cannot simply transform into a “public, free-for-all area” for any festival.
Similarly, the Allahabad High Court itself, in its 2019 judgment for Bajrangpuri Ram Leela Committee vs State Of Uttar Pradesh, had expressed disapproval of using “public spaces,” including parks and playgrounds, for religious activities.
That ruling asserted that “No person or group or class of persons…can claim a right to block public place so as to prevent its utilization to public at large…as it amounts to temporary encroachment which is illegal and cannot be permitted.” It further stressed the responsibility of authorities to ensure public places “are maintained unobstructed, un-encroached, unoccupied and free from such activities, which restricts common persons from exercising his/her general right of use of public places, without any hindrance.”