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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Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman expresses displeasure over absent ministers
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti on Tuesday briefly adjourned the House, expressing displeasure over the absence of Ministers and ruling party members post lunch break.
The development comes a day after Assembly Speaker U T Khader adjourned the House and walked out in protest, over the lack of written replies from government departments to questions raised by MLAs.
The "unprecedented" move by the Speaker had caused huge embarrassment to the Congress government, forcing the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to issue directives to Ministers and bureaucrats, including suspending errant officials.
When the council resumed after lunch, Leader of Opposition Chalavadi Narayanaswamy pointed toward the empty treasury benches and suggested that ruling party members seemed to have "boycotted" the proceedings.
Only Minister of School Education and Literacy Madhu Bangarappa and Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed were in attendance.
The Chairman asked, "Ministers are not here; what should I do?"
Raising objection to empty treasury benches, Opposition Chief Whip N Ravikumar said, "If we have to speak on any issues, who should we tell? Who is there among Ministers? Where is the government?"
Following this, Horatti adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
When the House resumed, a couple of Ministers -- Ramalinga Reddy, Santosh Lad arrived, but the treasury benches by and large remained sparse as most of the ruling Congress MLCs were absent.
The Chairman asked the Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed, "If there are no members and Ministers on the treasury bench side, what is it? How should the House be run? If you don't want, I will adjourn the House for tomorrow. What other work is there during the session? If there are no members and the seats are empty, how can the House run?"
When Horatti asked the Chief Whip about the MLCs, Ahmed replied, "They will be coming."
Pointing out that MLCs were not present, despite the House resuming late post lunch, the Chairman said, "What should we do? Shall I adjourn the House for tomorrow? What do you mean that they will be coming? I don't like it."
Ravikumar attacked the ruling Congress, asking, "Before whom should we raise the issues?"
When the Chairman expressed his willingness to adjourn the House till Wednesday morning, Ravikumar said the opposition BJP was ready to participate in the proceedings, provided the treasury benches show equal cooperation.
Defending the ruling party members, Congress MLC Ramesh Babu said there was some delay in the return of his party colleagues, who had gone for lunch.
As a couple of Ministers and ruling party MLCs started trickling in, the Chairman called BJP MLC A H Vishwanth to speak on the Budget.
