A balanced decision: HD Deve Gowda on Ayodhya verdict

Bengaluru: Former prime minister HD Deve Gowda on Saturday welcomed the Supreme Court’s verdict in Ayodhya land dispute case and said that it is a balanced judgement.

“The decision is a balancing decision which I welcome,” Deve Gowda said here.

The Supreme Court on Saturday directed the Centre to give five acres of suitable land to Sunni Waqf Board and at the same time make necessary arrangements for the construction of the temple at disputed site by forming a trust.

“Central government shall form in three to four months a scheme for setting up of a trust. They shall make necessary arrangements for the management of trust and construction of the temple,” Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said while reading out the verdict.

A five-judge constitution bench presided by Chief Justice Gogoi and comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer passed the order on a bunch of petitions against an order of the Allahabad High Court which trifurcated the site between the parties — Ramlalla Virajman, Sunni Central Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara.

A decade-long legal dispute was fought by right-wing party Hindu Mahasabha, a sect of Hindu monks Nirmohi Akhara and Muslim Waqf Board over 2.77 acres of land in Ayodhya.