Nirmohi Akhara questions rejected claim, Nyas happy with SC ruling

DELHI/ AYODHYA: A five judge bench led by the Supreme Court of India dismissed the claims of Nirmohi Akhara to the Ram Janm Bhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute saying that its suit was time barred. On Saturday the Supreme Court held, “The period of limitation is six years. But the suit by Akhara was instituted on 17 December 1959. Hence, the suit is outside the prescribed period of limitation and is barred.”

The apex court also dismissed the petition of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas, a trust came into existence in 1985 and was first impleded as a party in the Allahabad high court, as a party directly interested in the affairs of the plaintiff deities. The high court did not give a clear finding on its rights in its 2010 verdict. On Saturday, t the SC has dismissed its petition.

Nirmohi Akhara had sought management rights of the temple after the City Magistrate on January 5,1950, entrusted the management and charge of the temple to the receiver. In 1959, the Akhara pleaded that the receiver be removed. In 2010, the Allahabad high court held that the suit by Nirmohi Akahar was barred, but still gave it one third of the title rights.

The Akhara head Mahant Dhinendra Das, and his lawyer Ranjeet Lal Varma questioned the Supreme Court’s decision to reject its claim over the disputed 2.77 acre plot. “The Sunni Central Waqf Board’s application in the Supreme Court was filed after the Nirmohi Akhara had filed its petition. But the court awarded 5 acres of land for construction of a mosque in Ayodhya to the Sunni Central Waqf Board and rejected our claim,” they said.

Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, the head of the Nyas, said he was happy with the apex court’s verdict. “We were sure that the court’s verdict will be in favour of Ram temple. Our preparations for construction of temple were going on since last several years. Everything is ready. The government can start temple construction anytime. Right from the temple’s architecture to its design and construction material, everything is ready,” he said.

“Our opposition is not for construction of any other mosque in the temple town,” he said, adding, “We will take along Nirmohi Akhara along with us when it comes to construction of Ram temple.”

Ashok Singhal, the late International president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had constituted the Nyas in 1993 with the sole objective to construct the Ram temple in Ayodhya.