Ayodhya case to be heard as land dispute, says SC

The Supreme Court has said it would hear the Ayodhya title suit as a “pure land dispute” while also making it clear that it does not intend to have a day-to-day hearing. A special bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer said applications of those who wanted to be impleaded would be dealt with later.

“At least 700 cases involving ordinary citizens can be disposed of in 25 days if the court deals with them for about an hour-and-a-half,” Justice Misra said. The court adjourned the case for March 14 at the request of advocate Ejaz Maqbool who pointed out English translations of several books and documents that needed to be referred were not available.

Representing legal heirs of now dead M Siddiq of the Jamait-Ulema-I-Hind and the Sunni Wakf Board, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan said the Allahabad high court judgment that the land be divided equally between the deity, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Sunni Wakf Board was an insult to justice.


“The high court judgment is an insult to justice and we will prove it,” Dhavan said, adding that he would make at least 12 legal submissions against the judgment, including a plea to refer the case to a larger bench. He had earlier raised the demand without success.