Supreme Court dismisses 19 petitions seeking review of Ayodhya land dispute case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on December 12 dismissed a batch of petitions seeking review of the November 9 Ayodhya land dispute verdict. The original verdict cleared the way for construction of Ram Mandir at the disputed site.

The apex court rejected 19 petitions for consideration after having found no ground to entertain them. “Applications for listing review petitions in open court are dismissed. We have carefully gone through the petitions, and the connected papers filed in addition to that. We did not find any ground, whatsoever, to entertain the petitions. The review petitions are, accordingly, dismissed,” said the five-judge bench. The latter, which was headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, rejected 10 out of 19 pleas filed by the original litigants to the title dispute.

The five-judge bench also comprised Justices DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, SA Nazeer and Sanjeev Khanna. This bench considered the review pleas of only those who were parties to the four lawsuits filed initially in the Ayodhya land dispute.

Supreme Court, which also considered the nine petitions filed by ‘third parties’ not part of the original litigation, denied them permission to submit a review petition in the case.

“Applications for permission to file review petitions are dismissed. Given the denial of permission to file petitions, applications for listing review petitions in open court, as well as review petitions, are rejected,” said the bench.

Among the ten original litigants, whose review petitions the SC dismissed, Muslim parties including those supported by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board filed eight. The petitioners had said that they were aggrieved by the court’s decision, and stated that the decision needs to be reconsidered.