Petition filed in SC for appointment of govt representative

LUCKNOW: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for the appointment of a government representative in the Ayodhya mosque trust to ensure that the money received in the form of donations is not misused. The petition was filed earlier this month and it is yet to be admitted.

Karunesh Shukla from Basti district and Shishir Chaturvedi from Lucknow have filed the plea. “The trust constituted for construction of Ram Mandir has representatives from the Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre to ensure there is no misuse of money. Similarly, the trust constituted for construction of mosque must also have a government representative. He can be a Muslim,” said Karunesh Shukla, a Supreme Court lawyer who has filed the petition.

“Land for construction of mosque has been given by the Uttar Pradesh government. It is not a private land. So, a government representative in the trust is must to oversee its working and to maintain transparency in collection of funds and it is use for construction of the mosque,” Shukla added.

The petition also says that it is expected that Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust will get donations from various places, including foreign countries, and hence it is the duty of the government ensure that money received by the trust is not misused.

The Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board had set up IndoIslamic Cultural Foundation, a 15-member trust for building a mosque and other facilities on the land allotted in Ayodhya’s Dhannipur village by the Uttar Pradesh Government on the Supreme Court’s directives in the Ayodhya title case verdict.

In the Ayodhya title dispute case, the Supreme Court had, on November 9 last year, directed the Central government to hand over the site at Ayodhya for the construction of a temple and set up a trust for the same.

The apex court had further directed the government to allocate an alternative five acres of land at a prominent location in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque to the Sunni Waqf Board.

In February, the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board accepted the five acres of land on which the board says a mosque, hospital, community kitchen, research centre and a library will be constructed.

Athar Hussain, spokesperson for IICF, said, “The petition is still pending with the court. It will be too early to make any comment.”

One of the petitioners Karunesh Shukla was a Naga sadhu before entering into the mainstream of the society, according to people aware of the matter in Ayodhya. Karunesh was initiated into the Naga fold in Hanuman Garhi, Ayodhya, and renamed as Kartikeya Das, they said.