New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday refused to examine a plea seeking a ban on Salman Rushdie's controversial novel "The Satanic Verses".

The plea came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.

The petitioners' counsel referred to the Delhi High Court's November last year order.

The high court had closed the proceedings on a petition challenging the Rajiv Gandhi government's decision to ban the import of "The Satanic Verses" in 1988.

The high court observed since authorities failed to produce the relevant notification, it has to be presumed that it does not exist.

The Centre banned the import of the Booker Prize-winning author's "The Satanic Verses" for law-and-order reasons in 1988, after Muslims across the world viewed it as blasphemous.

"You are effectively challenging the judgement of the Delhi High Court," the apex court observed and dismissed the plea filed by three Mumbai residents.

The petition, filed through advocate Chand Qureshi, alleged the book was available due to the order passed by the high court.

The plea said the petitioners discovered on June 14 this year that vendors in Mumbai were selling the "controversial and blasphemous book" and it was also available on a prominent online shopping platform.

It alleged the order was passed by the high court "perfunctorily" on the government's submission that it was unable to find the notification.

"The legal basis for the ban was Section 11 of the Indian Customs Act, 1962, due to which the ban was imposed. However, after the Delhi High Court revoked the ban... the blasphemous book was being sold in India for the first time in 36 years," the plea said.

It further claimed the book was highly likely to violate public order as in the past several decades, not only the author but also the booksellers and those circulating the book were physically attacked and international relations between Iran and the UK were severed.

The plea said several other countries had also strictly put restriction over selling this book in the market. PTI ABA ABA AMK AMK

Import ban under customs law denied review after absence of notification; challenge to sale of controversial book dismissed A petition contested the legal basis for an historical import restriction imposed on law-and-order grounds under customs law, alleging authorities could not produce the notification said to justify the ban and that vendors and an online platform were selling the controversial novel, creating public-order risks; the filing sought prohibition of commercial availability but was presented as an indirect attack on a prior high court disposition that treated the notification as nonexistent and thus enabled market sale.