Ayodhya more important than polygamy, SC told

Amid repeated appeals by a litigant that the Ayodhya land dispute should be immediately referred to a larger bench as the issue was far more important than that of polygamy among Muslims, a threejudge bench of the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to examine whether the title dispute can be referred to the larger Constitution Bench.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for main petitioner M. Siddiq, referred to a recent apex court order passed for referring the polygamy issue to a Constitution Bench of five judges and asked the court whether the Ayodhya dispute was less important than polygamy for being referred to the Constitution Bench.

Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who is heading the threejudge bench, told Mr Dhavan, “We will not restrict the scope of arguments only to the reconsideration of the 1994 verdict. You ( Dhavan) can argue for referring the entire title suit to a Constitution Bench.”