Govt sets up dedicated desk to look after Ayodhya issue

A three-member officers team led by an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs will look after all matters related to the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya issue.

The MHA has revived the wing on Ayodhya, which was wound up after Justice Liberhan Commission submitted its report, following the Supreme Court judgement that allowed construction of a Ram Temple in the disputed site in Ayodhya where Babri Masjid was demolished and finding a five-acre plot for building a mosque.

Additional Secretary Gyanesh Kumar, who also heads the Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh division, will head the team and will look after matters related to the verdict. Kumar, a Kerala-cadre IAS officer, was the key officer in the Centre's move to abrogate the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories.

The Ayodhya wing will now handle the matters like handing over of a 5-acre plot to Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board and setting up of a trust for construction of the Ram temple, as ordered by the apex court.

The MHA used to have a dedicated Ayodhya cell in the 1990s and 2000s but was closed down after Justice Liberhan Commission of Inquiry on Ayodhya submitted its report.

The MHA has also decided to merge Internal Security-I and Internal Security-I divisions. Joint Secretary (Women Safety) Punya Salila Srivastava has been given the charge of the merged Internal Security division.