Ayodhya case: Sunni Central Waqf Board tells SC that it owns the land

As the Ayodhya land title dispute case enters its final leg, the Sunni Central Waqf Board, one of the parties in the case, on Monday 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.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi was hearing appeals challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict which ordered equal division of the 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. The 16th-century Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.

The top court had recently said that it would wrap up hearing the case on October 17, a day earlier than it was scheduled to, thus leaving merely three days of active hearing now. The judgment on the same will be passed on Novermber 4-5.