How Supreme Court Decreed The Title Suit Filed By Ram Lalla?

What the Supreme Court has essentially done in the Ayodhya case is that it has decreed the Suit filed by "Bhagwan Sri Ram Lala Virajman" in terms of prayer clauses (A) and (B) of the suit, subject to some directions. The conditions while decreeing the suit by Ram Lalla includes framing of a scheme and a trust for the construction of the temple at Rama Janmabhumi, the erstwhile disputed site. Prayers in the Suit were: (a) A declaration that the entire premises of Sri Ram Janmabhumi described in Annexures I, II and III belong to the plaintiff-deities; and (b) A permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from interfering with or obstructing the construction of a new temple at Sri Ram Janmabhumi after the demolition and removal of the existing buildings and structures.Reliefs granted while decreeing the suits filed by Ram Lalla and while partly decreeing the suit filed by Sunni Board, along with the conditions imposed, may be read here. Sunni Central Wakf Board's suit was partly decreedThough it found that the Hindus have better case of possessory title, the Court noted that the Muslims were dispossessed upon the desecration of the mosque on 22/23 December 1949 which was ultimately destroyed on 6 December 1992 and there was no abandonment of the mosque by the Muslims. Invoking its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Court said it must ensure that a wrong committed must be remedied. More on this may be read here. "Justice would not prevail if the Court were to overlook the entitlement of the Muslims who have been deprived of the structure of the mosque through means which should not have been employed in a secular nation committed to the rule of law. The Constitution postulates the equality of all faiths. Tolerance and mutual co-existence nourish the secular commitment of our nation and its people.", it said while directing that land admeasuring 5 acres be allotted to the Sunni Central Waqf Board either by the Central Government out of the acquired land or by the Government of Uttar Pradesh within the city of Ayodhya. It further clarified that such handing over shall be conducted simultaneously with the handing over of the disputed site comprising of the inner and outer courtyards as a consequence of the decree in Suit 5.Analysis of the Suit Filed By Ram Lalla Part J and N of the judgment deals elaborately with Suit 5 i.e. the suit filed by Ram Lalla.Ram Lalla A Juristic Personality, Ram Janam Sthan Is Not Part J deals with the concept of Juristic Personality. The issue became relevant because the plaintiffs in one of the suits were the deity "Bhagwan Sri Ram Virajman" and "Asthan Sri Ram Janam Bhumi, Ayodhya". The court noted that legal personality of the first plaintiff (Bhagwan Sri Ram Virajman) as represented by the physical idols of Lord Ram at the disputed site is not contested by any of the parties. However, the novel argument raised by Senior Advocate K. Parasaran that 'Asthan Shri Ram Janam Bhumi', as a place of religious worship must be elevated to the status of a juristic person by virtue of the faith and belief of the worshippers was rejected by the Court. More on this may be read here. Limitation It is quite interesting how the Supreme Court answered the questions about limitation of the suit filed by Ram Lalla. Law of limitation cannot be ruled out on the basis of the theory of perpetual minority The issue whether the suit can be held to be within limitation on the ground that a deity is a perpetual minor, was answered against the plaintiff. The Court agreed with the observations made by Justice S U Khan that an idol of a deity is not a perpetual minor for the purpose of limitation and debutter property can be lost through adverse possession. "It is an established position that a deity cannot on the ground of being a perpetual minor stand exempted from the application of the Limitation Act. The applicability of the law of limitation cannot be ruled out on the basis of the theory of perpetual minority." Suit is instituted within the period of limitation Having held thus, the bench addressed the fundamental issue as to whether Suit 5 is barred by limitation. The court, in this regard, agreed with Justice Agarwal in holding Suit 5 to be within limitation. The court summarized Justice Agarwal discussion on the limitation issue thus: "Justice Sudhir Agarwal held that worship of the deities had continued and there was no action or inaction in respect of which the plaintiffs could claim a right to sue governed by a particular period of limitation. The learned judge held that in the preceding few hundred years, the only action which may have arisen to adversely affect the interest of the plaintiffs was the raising of the disputed structure. In spite of this, the place in dispute continued to be used by the Hindus for the purposes of worship. On the other hand, there is no mention of any Muslim having offered namaz from the date of the construction until 1856-57. In...

How Supreme Court Decreed The Title Suit Filed By Ram Lalla?

Ashok Kini

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