LUCKNOW (AMN) The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday extended the status quo on its September 30 verdict’s implementation till February 15 next year.
The court fixed January 28, 2011 as the next date of hearing on the three review petitions on the Ayodhya title suits.
The special Lucknow Bench of the court comprising Justices S U Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and V K Dixit passed the order while hearing the review petitions filed by lawyer M Ismail Farooqui. The court also heard the petitions seeking review in the judgement on the suits of Rajendra Singh, Nirmohi Akhara and Bhagwan Ram Lala Virajman.
On Sept 30, Lucknow Bench of Allahabad HC had held that disputed land in Ayodhya be divided into three parts among Hindus and Muslims within three months.
It had ruled that the place where the makeshift temple of Lord Rama currently exists belongs to the Hindus. The majority 2-1 verdict running into nearly 8,000 pages had come after nearly 60 years of tortuous litigation over who holds the title to the disputed site.
Justices S U Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and D V Sharma had written separate judgements but the majority verdict held that the area covered by the central dome of the three-domed structure where the idol of Lord Rama is presently situated belongs to Hindus
The court also reserved its order on the objections filed by the Hindu Mahasabha, a party in the case, in connection with finalising the decree after hearing the arguments of the counsel of the party.
In another development the Supreme Court refused to expunge its ‘something is rotten’ cutting remark about the Allahabad High Court, holding that everybody knew which judge of the court was corrupt.
‘Rustics are no longer rustics. Don’t think people are fools,’ Justice Markandey Katju said no sooner had senior counsel P.P Rao risen to argue a petition by the Allahabad High Court urging that the barb be expunged.
‘We will make a clarification but not expunge the remarks,’ said the bench of Justice Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra – the same bench that had slammed the Allahabad High Court Nov 26 for nepotism and corruption and for passing orders on ‘extraneous considerations’.
