SC dismisses plea for govt nominees in trust to build Ayodhya mosque

The apex court had in its November 9, 2019, judgment on the Ram Janmabhoomi - Babari Masjid dispute given the entire 2.77 acres of land for the construction of a temple

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a public suit seeking direction for the inclusion of government nominees in the Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation trust, set up to build a mosque in Ayodhya.

The apex court had in its November 9, 2019, judgment on the Ram Janmabhoomi – Babari Masjid dispute given the entire 2.77 acres of land for the construction of a temple and had directed the government to hand over five-acres of land to Sunni Central Waqf Board for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya.

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Two Uttar Pradesh lawyers had moved the court seeking appointment of Sunni Muslim nominees of the Central and Uttar Pradesh governments on the trust set-up for the construction of a mosque and for other activities at Ayodhya on the same lines, as per which, three government nominees were put on the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra.

A bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman today dismissed the public interest litigation filed by advocate Shishir Chaturvedi and Kamlesh Kumar Shukla that said government nominees should also be present in the other trusts like in the Ramjanmabhoomi Trust.

The top court had, by its November 9, 2019, judgment, directed the inclusion of three government nominees on the trust that will undertake the construction and management of the Lord Rama’s temple in Ayodhya.

Shukla is a Naga Sadhu from Hanuman Garhi and he was a junior counsel of Mahant Dharam Das of Nirmohi Akhara in the Ayodhya case in the Supreme Court.

In its judgment on November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to constitute a trust within three months for construction of the temple, but no such directive was issued for the five acres of land allotted to the Muslims.

The court had said that the Sunni Central Waqf Board would be at liberty for use of the land.

The Sunni Central Waqf Board has set up the Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust to oversee the construction of a mosque, cultural and research facilities, a hospital, a library, a community kitchen and other public utility facilities on the land allotted in Dhannipur village of Ayodhya.

Various residents of Ayodhya want some representation of the Central and the State governments for “a strict vigilante and supervision to maintain public peace and to control the misuse of funds of the trust”, the plea said.

It said hundreds of persons will visit the site of the Islamic trust, which will get contributions from within India and abroad, and for the sake of peace and tranquillity in Ayodhya, there should be proper management of funds and property vested in the trust.

The plea also said that the Central and State governments have all the information on the working of the trust to maintain public order and to ensure that no malpractices take place and the funds are not misused or misappropriated.