The Supreme Court on Friday allowed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to argue his plea for construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya at the disputed site as a fundamental right in the pending matters relating to the civil appeal.

A bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and Arun Mishra said the court cannot independently deal with his writ petition but allowed him to make an intervention in the case.

Swamy argued that the government had earlier given an affidavit that it would pave way for construction of the temple if there is evidence for its pre-existence and moreover, there are findings of Archaeological Survey of India to this effect.

The court, at one point, questioned him as to why he did not approach the Allahabad High Court. But as Swamy said that the matter was already pending here, the court decided to convert his writ petition into impleadment application.

In his petition, Swamy claimed that under the practices prevalent in Islamic countries, a mosque could be shifted to any other place for public purposes like constructing road etc, whereas a temple once constructed cannot be touched.