The Sunni Central Waqf Board, a main litigant in the Ayodhya title suit case, on Tuesday reiterated that it would not file a review petition in the Supreme Court against the November 9 verdict that paved the way for the construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site. However, the meeting of the Waqf Board here remained inconclusive over accepting the 5-acre land offered by the apex court in lieu of the disputed land given to Hindus for the temple. Six of the seven members present at Tuesday’s meeting, including chairman Zufar Faruqui, agreed with the Board’s decision to not align with All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), which has decided to file a review petition. One of the members, High Court lawyer Abdul Razzaque, however, put in his dissent as he was in favour of filing the review petition. Earlier, Razzaque and another Board member, Imran Mabood Khan, had alleged that Faruqui was not in favour of filing the review petition as he was facing criminal cases. Mabood Khan skipped the meeting on Tuesday. “The Board has considered the judgement of the Supreme Court passed in the Babri Masjid case. The Board has reiterated its stand that it will not file any review petition in the Supreme Court. We had taken a public stand that we will accept the apex court’s decision, even if it is not in our favour. It was not just our stand, but was the stand of all petitioners in the Ayodhya case,” Faruqui said after the meeting. On the issue of five acres of land, Faruqui said the Board will take a decision on it soon. “All further actions in compliance of the orders of Honourable Supreme Court of India, including the issue of five acres of land in Ayodhya, are still under consideration of the Board and no decision in this regard has been taken yet. The members of the Board have asked for more time to formulate their views,” said Faruqui. “We honour the Supreme Court’s decision. And we had not raised this five-acre land issue. It was not our demand. The conversation about accepting or not accepting it has also started from somewhere else. We will follow the order,” Faruqui added. On asked if “following the order” would mean accepting the land as well, the chairman said, “The Supreme Court has asked the government to give us the land. We will discuss it among the Board members.”
