Ayodhya Ram Mandir: Only One of 5 SC Judges Who Passed Ayodhya Verdict to Attend Ram Temple Ceremony
Justice Bhushan, who is currently the chairman of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, has said that he will be going to Ayodhya on Sunday to attend the “historic event”.
New Delhi: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Ashok Bhushan is the only one among the five judges who allowed the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya in November 2019 to have confirmed his attendance for the the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla on January 22, 2024. The other four have expressed their inability to attend the ceremony.
The Times of India reported that former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, who headed the Supreme Court bench in the matter and is now a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, will be busy on the day in charitable works for NGOs started by his mother in Assam, along with taking stock of welfare projects from his MPLAD fund.
Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud will be in the Supreme Court, as courts will be functioning on the day. Justice S.A. Bobde, who is living a retired life in Nagpur, has not informed the temple officials about his participation in the event. Justice S. Abdul Nazeer, who is serving as the governor of Andhra Pradesh, has expressed his inability to attend the ceremony because of prior commitments.
Only Justice Bhushan, who is currently the chairman of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), has said that he will be going to Ayodhya on Sunday to attend the “historic event”.
The constitutional bench comprising the five judges passed an unanimous judgment in favour of the temple side on November 9, 2019 where it said that although the demolition of the Babri Masjid was illegal, the Hindu plaintiffs laying claim to the disputed 2.77 acres of land made a better case. The case, the judges said, was based on evidence pertaining to the claim of ownership of the disputed land, not faith or religion. The judgment of the Supreme Court bench was also the first not to have the name of the author.
Incidentally, Justice Bhushan was the only one among the five to have made a separate 116-page concurring opinion on the matter, but then CJI Gogoi eventually managed a consensus and added Justice Bhushan’s opinion as “addenda”, a first in the history of the apex court. The addenda examines the oral and documentary evidence presented in the Supreme Court and Allahabad high court about Ayodhya and the site of Babri Masjid as Lord Ram’s birthplace. However, the bench decided to hand over the site to the Hindu site not on the basis of those questions but quoted evidence regarding the competing claims of the disputed land’s possession.
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