A historic judgment passed by the Supreme Court on 09.11.2019 declares that the disputed land will be provided to the Hindu deity, Ram Lalla. The Central Government has been given the responsibility to formulate a scheme for setting up a trust which shall be transferred to the possession of the inner and outer courtyards. This is done as per the Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993.
The Sections 6 and 7 of the above mentioned Act give charge to the Government to manage its property by itself or by authorizing a person or body of persons or trustees of any trust authorized by that Government in this behalf.
The Court said that the possession of the disputed property shall continue to be in hands of the Central Government until a notification is issued vesting the property in the trust or other bodies.
The concerned Section also states that, after the commencement of this Act, the Government may vest any authority or trustees of any trust with the acquired area if such body complies with the terms and conditions imposed by the Government. As per this provision the Supreme Court has directed the Government to hand the land to a trust that will manage it.
As per Section 3 of the Act, the Central Government has been empowered with the area of 67.7 acres of land in and around the disputed site of Ayodhya in order to promote peace and harmony. Also, the rights, titles, and interests in relation to the area in and around the disputed land have been provided to the Central Government.
The responsibilities of the land are given to trust because of an absence of organization representative of the deity. The suit on behalf of Ram Lalla was filed through a ‘next friend’, who could not be said to be a ‘representative organization’.
Starting from 1989, senior advocate and retired judge of the Allahabad High Court Deoki Nandan Agarwala sought an appointment as Ram Lalla’s friend. After his death, a retired history professor at BHU, T.P Verma was appointed the next friend. In 2010, Verma was succeeded by Triloki Nath Pandey. The validity of the Ayodhya Act was upheld in the case of Dr. M. Ismail Faruqui & Ors. vs. Union of India. According to this judgment, any matter related to that acquired land pending before any Court, authority or tribunal shall be relieved after the commencement of the Act. If this would not have been the case the appeals of this matter would not have been possible.