Ayodhya verdict: 5 acres alternate land to Muslims at prominent place in Ayodhya

The Supreme Court directed the Central government to allocate five acres of "alternate land" to build a mosque at a prominent place in Ayodhya, Vishnu Shankar Jain, counsel for Hindu Mahasabha lawyer, said on Saturday.

"The Supreme Court has given five acres of alternate land to Muslims at a prominent place in Ayodhya. The Central and state government are taking a call on it," Jain told the media persons.

While reading out the judgment today, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the Centre to give five acres of suitable land to Sunni Waqf Board and at the same time make necessary arrangements for the construction of the temple by forming a trust.

"Central government shall form in three to four months a scheme for setting up of a trust. They shall make necessary arrangements for the management of trust and construction of the temple," said Chief Justice Gogoi.

He said that the possession of the inner and outer courtyard shall be handed over to the trust.

"Suitable plot of land measuring five-acre shall be handed over to Sunni Waqf Board," said the apex court.

A five-judge constitution bench presided by Chief Justice Gogoi and comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer passed the order on a batch of petitions against an order of the Allahabad High Court which trifurcated the site between the parties -- Ramlalla Virajman, Sunni Central Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara.

A decade-long legal dispute was fought by right-wing party Hindu Mahasabha, a sect of Hindu monks Nirmohi Akhara and Muslim Waqf Board over 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya.