Ready to forgo one third share in disputed Ayodhya land to Hindus: Shia body tells SC

The Shia Wakf Board on Friday told the Supreme Court that it was ready to forgo one third of 2.77 acre of disputed land allotted to it by the Allahabad High Court to Hindus for construction of a temple at Ayodhya.

A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, which concluded hearing of arguments from the Hindus' side, was told by the Shia Board that Mir Baki, a commander of Babur, was a Shia and was first 'Mutawalli' or caretaker of the Babri mosque as he had constructed it.

"I am supporting the Hindu side," lawyer M C Dhingra, appearing for Shia Wakf Board, told the bench, also comprising justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer, on the 16th day of the hearing in the Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.

He said the high court, while dividing the disputed land into three equal parts, had given one third share to Muslims and not to Sunni Wakf Board and hence, it wanted to give its share to Hindus on grounds including that Babri mosque was a Shia Wakf property.

He said that without prejudice to what Hindus have argued, Shias do not claim their right over the property under the doctrine of adverse possession as Shias were in possession of it till 1936 and moreover, the first and the last 'Mutawalli' were Shias and no Sunni was ever appointed caretaker.

Dhingra, however, said the disputed property was registered as Sunni Wakf without giving any notice to Shias and later the Shia Board lost the case in court in 1946 on the "slim ground" that it had appointed a Sunni Imam.

"What is going to follow from this? Do we need to see all this," the bench then asked.

"I am seeking leave to challenge the decision of the high court denying the right of Shia Wakf over the property," Dhingra argued.

"You have filed a Special Leave Petition (appeal) challenging more than a 70 year old order," the bench said.

Earlier in the day, senior advocate P N Mishra, appearing for Akhil Bhartiya Sri Ram Janam Bhoomi Punarudhar Samiti which is a defendant in a lawsuit filed by a Muslim party, summarised his submissions and alleged interpolations in land records of the disputed site.

He said "according to the settlement report of 1861 AD, interpolations/ additions have been put into effect in certain columns of Khata kistwar folios."
Mishra said Muslims have no case regarding their claim over the land and added, "The 'wakif' (the person who executes 'Wakf') must be the owner of land. Here Babur was not the owner of the land."