New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking the constitution of a committee or commission to determine whether the Ram temple at Ayodhya stands on the exact premises and land adjudicated by the apex court in its 2019 verdict, news agency PTI reported on Saturday.
Source: PTI
According to the cause list uploaded on the Supreme Court website, the plea filed by Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Case Trust is scheduled to come up for hearing on November 2 before a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.
What the plea asks for
"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," says one of the prayers in the plea, PTI reported.
The plea seeks an independent survey or demarcation of the premises adjudicated in the 2019 verdict, including identification of the exact boundaries, coordinates, extent and location of the land to which the judgment and decree relate. It says that if verification finds any material discrepancy between the adjudicated premises and the temple site, appropriate directions should be given so that the mandate of the 2019 verdict is faithfully implemented.
The petition also seeks directions to the concerned authorities and the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust to preserve and produce before the court all original documents, maps, plans, surveys and records relating to the identification, demarcation and development of the temple premises. Besides other prayers, it seeks facilities for devotees coming from all over the world, digitisation of donations, offerings and receipts on a daily basis with continuous display, and an annual audit of the accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to avoid misappropriation.
The 2019 verdict in brief
In a landmark unanimous judgment delivered on November 9, 2019, a five-judge Constitution bench paved the way for the construction of the Ram temple by a trust at the disputed site in Ayodhya. The court ruled that the 2.77 acres of disputed land, where the demolished Babri Masjid once stood, would remain with a central government receiver and be handed over to a trust within three months, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative five-acre plot to the Sunni Waqf Board for a mosque at a prominent place in Ayodhya.
The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque, stood on the disputed site before it was demolished on December 6, 1992, an event that triggered communal riots. The 2019 verdict was pronounced on 14 appeals against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, which had ordered the 2.77-acre land to be partitioned equally among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. The Supreme Court has not yet heard the new plea; it is listed for November 2.