New Delhi, September 28: New Delhi, Sep 28 (UNI) The Uttar Pradesh’s Sunni Central Waqf Board has urged the Supreme Court to let Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court to deliver the much-awaited judgment in the
Ayodhya land title suit without any futher delay, even as the apex
court prepared to hear today a plea to defer the judgement.
The Waqf Board, in its counter affadavit, said an out-of-court settlement is not possible in the 60-year-long title dispute.
But retired bureaucrat Ramesh Chandra Tripathi has sought deferment of the verdict on the Ram Janambhumi-Babri Masjid civil suit, on the ground that it may lead to a serious law and order problem in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country.
Earlier, the High Court was restrained by the Supreme Court untill today to pronounce its judgment on September 24.
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia, and Justices Aftab Alam and K S Radakrishnan is due to hear Tripathi’s petition today.
The three-member bench was constituted following differences of opinion between the two-judge bench of Justices R V Raveendran and H L Gokhale on September 23 on whether the deferment petition should be entertained or not. Despite the difference, the two-judge bench had temporarily restrained the High Court from pronouncing its judgement on September 24.
The Waqf board, while pleading for the verdict’s pronouncement,
contended that Tripathi is “a totally non-serious player” as he has
not been appearing in the High Court for the last 19 years and was
also not present during the 90-day-long final argument either
personally or through his counsel.
However, Nirmohi Akhara is in favour of deferring the verdict by
three months.
Eightynine-year-old Mohammad Hashim, who is also party in the suit, has also urged the apex court to dismiss Tripathi’s petition with exemplary costs. In a submission through his counsel, Hashim also requested the Supreme Court to vacate its interim order of September 23 restraining the Allahabad High Court from delivering the judgment.
Most of the parties in the case are for immediate pronouncement of the judgment by the High Court since one of its three judges, Justice Dharamveer Sharma, is due to retire on October 1. It is being observed that if the judgment is not pronounced before his retirement then the entire case will have to be reheard afresh.
Muslims say they own the disputed land in Ayodhya where Babri Masjid stood until its demolition in 1992, while Hindus claim ownership, contending it is the birthplace of Lord Ram and his temple there had been demolished to build the mosque during the reign of Mughal Emperor Babar in 1528.
–UNI