UP Sunni Waqf Board will accept alternative plot as ruled by SC

The UP Sunni Central Waqf Board has said it does not have the option to reject alternative 5 acres of the plot given to it under the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict but will decide how to use it on Monday. The SC in a unanimous verdict in November on the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, ruled in favour of the construction of a temple at Ajodhya. It also ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque.  Soon after the verdict, there were suggestions that the board should not accept the land. “Following the Supreme Court verdict, the Sunni Waqf Board does not have the choice of rejecting the five-acre alternative land for the construction of a mosque in Ayodhya as it would amount to contempt of court,” Farooqui said. “We had been saying since the very beginning that we will abide by the court verdict on the issue, and because of this we did not go in for a review of the verdict. There has been no shift in our stand,” he said. “But on how to use the land given to us by the government, it will be decided at the coming meet of the board on Monday,” he said and added the apex court order clearly stated that the Uttar Pradesh government will allot a plot to the board and “we had the liberty to build a mosque and associated amenities on it”.  “It did not say that the board had the liberty of rejecting it,” he added. Besides Farooqui, there are seven other members on the Sunni Waqf Board. Earlier this month, the Uttar Pradesh government gave the allotment letter to the board for the plot in Dhannipur village in Ajodhya’s Sohawal tehsil on the Ayodhya-Lucknow highway, about 20 km from the district headquarters. (courtesy to Republic World )