Ayodhya land dispute: SC asks Allahabad High Court to appoint new observers within 10 days

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the chief justice of Allahabad High Court to appoint new observers within 10 days in the Ayodhya land dispute matter.

In the last few months, different parties have staked claim to the disputed Ayodhya land. The high court’s Lucknow Bench had said the disputed 2.77-acre area at Ayodhya should be partitioned equally among three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. On 21 August, the Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board (UPSCWB) had said it was the commander of Babar’s army who had built a mosque in the midst of temples in Ayodhya in early 16th century, thus sowing seeds of discord between Hindus and Muslims. [caption id=“attachment_4014145” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] “Mir Baqi was the commander of Babar’s army. He was a Shia and used the Mughal army against the feelings of the Hindus by building a grand mosque located in middle of temples in Ayodhya in 1528-29. He sowed the seeds of dispute,” UPSCWB chairman Waseem Rizvi said in a statement. According to IANS, the Supreme Court plans to start hearing appeals in Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid case from 5 December and that no adjournments will be allowed. A three-member bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Abdul Naseer asked contesting parties to translate into English, within 12 weeks, the exhibits of the documents on which they will likely rely upon since these were in eight different languages. The Uttar Pradesh government was asked to translate within 10 weeks the evidence recorded for adjudication of the title dispute in the Allahabad High Court into English. The apex court reached a consensus on commencement of the hearing on the cross-appeals filed against the 2010 high court judgment. With inputs from IANS