SC to take up title suit in Ayodhya dispute today

The Supreme Court is scheduled to take up on Tuesday the protracted Ayodhya land dispute related to Babri Masjid and Ram temple.

On the last date of hearing, on January 10, Justice U U Lalit, one of the judges in five-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had recused after it was pointed out he had represented former Uttar Pradesh CM Kalyan Singh in early 1990s in a contempt matter after the demolition of the mosque.

A new bench formed subsequently also could not take up the matter on next date, January 27, as one of the judges, Justice S A Bobde, was not available due to indisposition.

On Tuesday, the CJI and Justices Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer would assemble at 10.30 am to consider the 2010 appeals filed by M Siddiq and others.

On Monday, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy mentioned his writ petition before the CJI for a listing of his plea, wherein he sought the permission to pray at the temple. He was told to be present during the hearing on Tuesday.

The scheduled hearing on Tuesday is unlikely to be a substantial one as the CJI on the last date indicated that the matter was yet not mature for it. It is expected that the court may decide the course of hearing, keenly awaited in view of its probable impact on political discourse.

On January 10, the top court had asked its Registry to physically inspect the records which are lying under lock and key and make an assessment of the time that will be taken to make the cases ready for hearing.

It had also sought to know if the records and documents which are in Persian, Sanskrit, Arabic, Gurumukhi, Urdu and Hindi, etc have been translated. It also pointed out the deposition of 88 witnesses which ran into 13,886 pages. Besides, the Allahabad High Court's 2010 judgement also ran into 4,304 pages.

The high court had on September 30, 2010, ordered for equal three-part division among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Ram Lalla, of the 2.77 acres including 0313 acres of the plot where the Babri Masjid existed.

Notably, the Union government has on January 29 filed an application for permission to restore the land, except the disputed portion on which Babri Masjid existed in Ayodhya, to Ram Janmabhumi Nyas and other original owners in order to allow them “proper access and enjoyment of rights”.

It has sought modification of the status quo order on a large portion of 67.7 acres of land around the structure. The Centre contended that out of the total land sought to be acquired, 42 acres should be returned to the original owner, Ram Janmabhumi Nyas. This would be other than the disputed structure on 0.313 acres of land, it said.

A similar plea by a group of individuals including two Lucknow lawyers challenging the constitutional validity of 1993 central law on land acquisition in Ayodhya near the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site has been referred to the Constitution bench on February 15.