Plea In Supreme Court Seeks Survey To Verify Whether Ayodhya Ram Temple Stands On Land Adjudicated In 2019 Verdict

The plea, filed by the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Case Trust, is listed for hearing on November 2 before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, according to the cause list published on the Court's website.

The petitioner is a separate entity from the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which was set up to construct and manage the temple and against which certain directions are now sought.

Besides verification of the site, the petition seeks a set of administrative reliefs concerning the temple's finances and the facilities available to pilgrims, including an annual audit of its accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The central relief is framed as a request for a fact-finding body of specialists drawn by the Court itself. In the words of the prayer, the petitioner asks the Court to, "Direct constitution of an appropriate independent court-appointed committee/commission, comprising such qualified survey, revenue, archaeological and other technical experts as this court may deem fit, for the purpose of determining whether the temple presently constructed/developed is situated upon the exact premises and land adjudicated by this court."

Linked to this, the petition prays for an independent survey or demarcation of the premises covered by the 2019 verdict. The exercise sought would identify the precise boundaries, coordinates, extent and location of the land to which the judgment and decree relate.

The petition then asks the Court to act on the outcome. If the verification throws up any material discrepancy between the land adjudicated by the Court and the land on which the temple has been constructed, the petitioner seeks appropriate directions to ensure that the mandate of the 2019 judgment is faithfully carried out.

To support the proposed verification, the petition seeks directions to the authorities concerned and to the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to preserve, and produce before the Court, all original documents, maps, plans, surveys and records bearing on how the temple premises were identified, demarcated and developed.

The plea also turns to the management of the temple's finances. It seeks directions for donations, offerings and receipts to be digitised every day and displayed on a continuous basis, and for the temple's accounts to be audited annually by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, with the stated object of preventing misappropriation.

Separately, it seeks a direction for the construction of facilities for devotees who travel to Ayodhya from across the world. The plea is reported to contain other prayers as well, the particulars of which are not yet available.

Background

On November 9, 2019, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, ruling unanimously in M Siddiq (D) through LRs v Mahant Suresh Das, cleared the way for a trust to construct a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. The Court held that the 2.77 acres of disputed land, on which the Babri Masjid had stood, would remain vested in the receiver appointed by the Central Government and be handed over within three months to a trust to be constituted for building the temple. It further directed the Centre to allot an alternative plot of five acres to the Sunni Central Waqf Board at a "prominent" place in Ayodhya for the construction of a new mosque.

The judgment disposed of 14 appeals against the 2010 decision of the Allahabad High Court. Deciding four civil suits, the High Court had ordered that the 2.77 acres be divided equally among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and 'Ram Lalla'.

The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque, was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992, an event followed by communal riots in several parts of the country.

The matter will be taken up on November 2.

[Source: PTI]