The counsel for the All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Monday said the decision on whether to seek a review of the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute or file a curative petition will be taken on November 17, PTI reported.
In a unanimous verdict on Saturday, the top court had said a trust should be set up by the Centre within three months to oversee the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. The Muslims, the court had said, should be given five acres plot elsewhere in Ayodhya for the construction of a new mosque as relief for the “unlawful destruction” of the Babri Masjid in 1992.
“The decision whether to seek review of the verdict will be taken on November 17 in the meeting of the AIMPLB,” Zafaryab Jilani, the lawyer for the Muslim group, told PTI.
Jilani is also the secretary of the AIMPLB and had fought the case in the Allahabad High Court and in the Supreme Court.
On Saturday, Jilani had said the verdict “neither provided equity nor justice” and that they might consider filing a review plea after deliberating on the matter. He had added that from an initial reading of the judgment, there were many contradictions and apparent errors.
Meanwhile, former National Commission for Minorities chief Wajahat Habibullah, called the Supreme Court judgement “deeply flawed” and said it would have legal implications in the future. “I would not call the verdict constructive, but it is not a destructive verdict either,” he told PTI. “In the sense that it tries to address the concerns of the two major communities.”
“It has held for example that the destruction of the mosque was illegal...and that is very important,” Habibullah said. “They also recognised that the Hindus also have a stake, though the nature of the stake, I would disagree with.”
On Sunday, Sunni Central Waqf Board chairperson Zufar Farooqui said the decision on whether to accept the five acres offered for a mosque in lieu of the disputed site in Ayodhya will be taken on November 26. Farooqui, however, maintained that the board welcomed the judgement and had no plans to challenge it.
Also read:
- Ayodhya verdict is silent on why Muslims must prove exclusive possession of site – but not Hindus
- ‘We don’t need charity’: Muslim voices reject five-acre plot awarded in place of Babri Masjid
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