Plea in SC challenges 1993 law on land acquisition in Ayodhya
Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 4
Seven devotees of Lord Ram today moved the Supreme Court, challenging a 1993 Central law on acquisition of land adjoining the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site at Ayodhya on the ground that Parliament didn’t have the legislative competence to acquire the land.
Challenging the constitutional validity of ‘The Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993’, the petitioners contended that the state legislature had the exclusive power to make provisions related to the management of affairs of religious institutions inside its territory.
The PV Narasimha Rao government had acquired 67.703 acre, including the 2.77 acre, through the Ayodhya Act in 1993. The acquisition was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1994 in Ismail Faruqui’s case in which it had said if the Centre wanted to return the acquired land to its original owners it may do so. The Ram Janambhoomi Nyas was the owner of 42 acre of the non-disputed land before acquisition and it has sought return of excess land acquired.
Filed by a group of lawyers, the latest petition on the Ayodhya dispute comes barely a week after the Centre filed a petition in the top court seeking its permission to hand over the “non-disputed” land around the disputed site to its original owners. The Centre had said the 0.313 acre plot — on which the disputed structure stood before December 6, 1992, demolition — was within the 2.77 acre disputed premises.
It sought a direction restraining the Centre and the UP Government “from interfering in puja, darshan, and performance of rituals at the places of worship situated within the land admeasuring 67.703 acre acquired by the impugned Act,
particularly at the land belonging to Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Nyas, Manas Bhawan, Sankat Mochan Mandir, Ram Janmsthan Temple, Janki Mahal and Katha Mandap”.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Centre had moved the SC late last month for permission to return 67.390-acre “non-disputed” land acquired by it in 1993 around the disputed Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya to its original owners.
Resolve mutually or let court decide: Nitish
- Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said the Ayodhya issue was the matter of court as it could only be resolved by mutual consent or by court verdict
- On Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s promise to grant central status to Patna University, he asked: “Why wasn’t Patna University granted the status during the Congress or UPA regime?”
