Advocate of one of the leading petitioners of the Muslim side in the Ayodhya case has refused the claims that the Waqf Board is withdrawing from the Ayodhya title suit.
The statement followed reports circulating on social media that a settlement has been reached in the Ayodhya case, according to which the Sunni Waqf Board would relinquish its title claim over the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land in Ayodhya.
"The board has not made any such statement but the action of the chairman UP Sunni Central Waqf Board in the last two months has undergone a sea change," said Shamshad, counsel for Iqbal Ansari without specifying what change has come in the action of the Sunni Waqf Board chief.
Shamshad said, "This case is contested by six other Muslim parties in which Sunni Board is one party and it has no more locus standi than any other individual Muslim parties. Every Muslim party is contesting the suit in their representative capacity of Muslims at large."
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"This is a representative suit in terms of CPC (Code of Civil Procedure). To withdraw such cases by whims and fancies of one individual party, maybe the Board is not possible at this stage without sending publication notice at large to the community members," he said.
The Supreme Court is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment in the Ayodhya case. The high court had ordered to partition the disputed 2.77 acres of land among three parties equally. The three parties are Ram Lalla Virajman, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Sunni Waqf Board.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi has said that all arguments in the Ayodhya hearings must be concluded by 5 pm on Wednesday, which is the 40th day of the daily hearings in the Ayodhya matter.