Can Shia Waqf Board’s claim settle Babri Masjid title suit in Supreme Court?

mangaloretoday News Network

New Delhi, Dec 05, 2017 : The Supreme Court today began final hearing in the Babri Masjid title suit. It is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court’s judgment in the case in 2010.

 

The three leading parties to the Babri Masjid title suit are Ram Lalla Virajman (infant Ram represented by Vishwa Hindu Parishad), the Nirmohi Akhara of Ramanandi sect and the Sunni Central Waqf Board. The high court divided the land among these three equally.

The Shia Waqf Board is a party to the case since 1989 but in July this year, it spoke about the title suit for the first staking claim on the property. In August, it submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court contending the claim of Sunni Waqf Board.

WHAT LIES BEHIND SHIA CLAIM

According to Shia Waqf Board, Mir Baqi also documented as Huzabbar Ali was an Ispahani (Persian) Shia and a military commander in the Mughal army of emperor Babar.

Mir Baqi built a mosque at Ayodhya which came to be known as Babri Masjid. In Shia board’s records, Babri Masjid is listed as Masjid Mir Baqi. The board contends that till 1944, Babri Masjid was a Shia waqf.

The petition by Shia board claims that "after the enactment of Muslim Waqf Act (XIII of 1936), the (Babri) mosque was included among the Sunni Waqf, a list which was prepared by the Chief Commissioner of Waqf under Section 4 of the Act and published in the Govt Gazette dated 26.2.1944."

It further contends that "it was only after wrong enlistment of mosque as sunni waqf that Sunni Central Waqf Board UP started claiming it as sunni waqf thereby pushing the petitioner (the Shia Waqf Board) to seek declaration from the Court that it is a shia waqf. Otherwise, it was never in dispute that the mosque was a shia waqf."
The Shia Waqf Board had moved the court against waqf commissioner’s listing in 1945. The Faizabad civil court gave its judgment in March, 1946 rejecting Shia board’s claim stating that the listing by the waqf commissioner was final.

SHIA BOARD’S ARGUMENT

The Shia Waqf Board has claimed that Mir Baqi was the wakif (creator) of Babri Masjid waqf and till 1946 all the trustees were Shia. The Shia board said that under the law the "waqf created by a Shia Wakif would be a Shia Waqf and could not be a Sunni Waqf."

The Shia board’s petition states that the trial court "accepted the pedigree of the then Mutawalli (trustee) originating from its creater (wakif)" to last Shia trustee Kalab Husain before the trial court’s judgment was pronounced.

More than 70 years after it was pronounced, the Shia board has now challenged the Faizabad trial court order in the Supreme Court calling it "serious miscarriage of justice". The petition is pending before the Supreme Court, which has to decide if the board has a right to appeal even after the lapse of limitation period.

If the Supreme Court agrees to give weightage to Shia board’s petition, the Babri Masjid title suit will take a curious turn. Shia board has proposed a formula allowing construction of Ram temple complex on the entire 2.77 hectare land.



courtesy:Yahoo