SC verdict on Babri no setback, say Muslim petitioners
New Delhi, Sep 27: The Supreme Court ruling that rejected a plea for referring the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute to a larger Constitution Bench is not a setback, a number of Muslim petitioners asserted on Thursday.
By a majority 2-1 judgement, the Supreme Court rejected a plea for referring the case to a larger Constitution Bench and referred the case to a three-judge bench to be set up that will begin hearing from October 29.
Advocate Zafaryab Jilani, the convenor of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, said the verdict was no setback.
"It is not at all a setback. It just means that the trial will start now. The court has clarified that the observations made by a Supreme Court bench in the Ismail Farooqi case of 1994 were made in a particular context and not related to this case. I think that serves the purpose," Jilani told the media.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangimahali echoed him.
"The positive aspect of today's decision is that the court has made it very clear that Ismail Farooqi case will have no impact on the Ayodhya case. As far as the masjid and namaz and the religious aspects are concerned, it is an established fact that mosques are built to offer namaz and they are an integral part of our religion," he told the media.
"Our main contention is that the whole land belongs to the Sunni Waqf Board and whatever the Allahabad High Court said, legally I think it cannot be said that you can divide the land between the three parties when you have not decided as to whom does it belong. So our main contention is that the whole land should be given to the Sunni Waqf Board," he added.
BJP Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy said the Modi government should acquire the land and hand it over to the representative bodies of the Hindus.
"There is no need to talk about whose property is this, whether Ram Janmabhoomi nyas or others. What we have to understand is if the Hindus have a fundamental right to pray at the spot where the faith tells them that Lord Rama was born," Swamy told CNN-News18.
"The government has s right to acquire properties including mosques. I would urge the Modi government to immediately acquire the entire land and hand it over to some representatives of the Hindua which include the various Akahras and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad," he added.
Senior advocate Shakeel Ahmed Syed, representing Sunni Waqf Board, talks to the media outside the Supreme Court, in New Delhi on Sept 27, 2018. The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a plea for referring the Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute to a larger Constitutional Bench and decided that a newly set up three-judge bench will hear the case from October 29.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
