We are following SC order, says Ayodhya DM after Muslims raise graveyard issue

Supreme Court lawyer MR Shamshad had written to the Board of Trustees of the Sri Ram Jamabhoomi Tirath Kshetra on behalf of nine Muslims of Ayodhya urging the Trust to leave four to five acre land within the 67 acre Ram Janmabhoomi campus because it had a Muslim graveyard in it.

The district administration in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya town on Tuesday said that the Supreme Court is aware of all facts related with the 67 acre land of Ram Janmabhoomi.

A model of a proposed Ram temple to be built at Ram Janambhoomi in Ayodhya .(REUTERS File Photo)

The administration’s response came following a letter Supreme Court lawyer MR Shamshad wrote on February 15 to the Board of Trustees of the newly constituted Sri Ram Jamabhoomi Tirath Kshetra on behalf of nine Muslims of Ayodhya urging the Trust to leave four to five acre land within the 67 acre Ram Janmabhoomi campus because it had a Muslim graveyard in it.

“The Supreme Court is aware of all facts related with the Ram Janmabhoomi land. I am no one to comment on the issue,” said Anuj Jha, district magistrate, Ayodhya.

“It was after the Supreme Court’s order that the 67 acre land was transferred to the Centre. We are only following Supreme Court’s order,” added Jha.

The apex court in its judgment in the decades old Ayodhya title suit case on November 9 last year had ruled in favour of the Hindu litigants and handed over entire 67 acre land and 2.77 acre land (disputed before the judgment) to the Centre for construction of Ram temple. The court also directed the Centre to constitute a Trust for construction of the temple.

On February 5, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet approved the allotment of five acres to the state’s Sunni Waqf Board for the construction of a mosque as ordered by the Supreme Court. The cabinet decision came shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of the trust to build a Ramp temple at the site, as required by the Supreme Court order.

The 15-member Trust – Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra - is scheduled to hold its first meeting in New Delhi on February 19 at the residence of Supreme Court lawyer K Parasaran, who is a member of Board of Trustees of the new Trust.

(An earlier version of this report had attributed certain remarks to the Ayodhya District Magistrate, which the official said, were not made by him)