Sunni Waqf Board Agrees To Build Mosque At Another Place As Part Of Ayodhya Settlement Plan: Sources

As the hearing continues in the Ayodhya case, sources told News Nation that the Sunni Waqf Board has agreed to a settlement plan devised by the mediation panel. According to the plan, the Sunni Waqf Board has agreed to build the mosque at another piece of land instead of the disputed site. However, the sources added that several key points and counsel were not part of the discussion. It should be noted that apart from the Sunni Waqf Board, there are six other parties in the Supreme Court. So, this means that even if the Sunni Waqf Board agrees to the settlement plan, the matter won’t be resolved anytime soon.

In case the matter comes up in the top court, opinion of other six Muslim parties will also hold great importance. While Sunni Waqf Board is agreeing to the settlement plan, other six parties are opposing this move. It can spark a bitter war of words between the Muslim parties. Sources say that the apex court can take up the matter while concluding the hearing by the end of the day today.

Previously, on October 14, the Sunni Central Waqf Board had told the Supreme Court that it possesses the impugned land. "We have been in possession throughout. There is nothing to suggest or show that the plaintiff (Nirmohi Akahara and others) are the proprietor of the disputed land in question," Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Waqf board told the five-judge constitution bench. The counsel said that there is no proof by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to ascertain that a temple was destroyed to build the mosque at the impugned site. "They claimed adverse possession since 1934 for which there is no proof," Dhavan contended.

The day-to-day hearings in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case began in the Supreme Court on August 7 with the Nirmohi Akhara, a Hindu religious denomination, claiming Muslims had not prayed at the disputed site in Ayodhya since 1934. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, and comprising justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, started hearing the matter. The Allahabad High Court, in its judgment of 2010 on four civil lawsuits, had partitioned the 2.77-acre disputed land equally among Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. Fourteen appeals have been filed in the Supreme Court against the verdict.