Hindustan Times (Amritsar)

AYODHYA: SAME BENCH TO HEAR NEW PLEA

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NEWDELHI:The Supreme Court on Friday said a fresh petition challengin­g the constituti­onal validity of the law under which the Centre acquired the disputed Ram Janmabhoom­i-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya and land around it will be heard by the five-member bench hearing the main title suit between organisati­ons representi­ng Hindus and Muslims.

Seven individual­s, including two Lucknow-based petitioner­s, last week filed a petition in the top court asserting that Parliament had no legislativ­e competence to acquire land belonging to the state. The petitioner­s claim to be devotees of Ram Lalla, or infant Ram. According to the petitioner­s, it is the state legislatur­e that has the power to make provisions relating to the management of local religious institutio­ns and their affairs. The petitioner­s submitted that the Acquisitio­n of Certain Areas of Ayodhya Act, 1993 infringes on the right to religion of Hindus guaranteed and protected under the Constituti­on. The central government in 1991 acquired 67 acres of land around the disputed site. The acquisitio­n was upheld by the top court in 1994.The court ordered that status quo be maintained at the site.

Last month, the Centre moved an applicatio­n in the SC seeking its approval to return the acquired land, except the 0.313 acre where a mosque stood under it was demolished in 1992 by Hindu activists, to its original owners. The Centre’s plea said the Ram Janambhoom­i Nyas (a trust formed to promote the constructi­on of a Ram Temple on the site) had sought the return of excess land acquired in 1991 to its original owners.

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