Government starts process of constituting Ayodhya Ram Temple trust
India TV NewsThe Centre has started the process of setting up a trust, as mandated by the Supreme Court in its Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid verdict, with a team of officers examining the order threadbare, officials said on Monday. However, it was not immediately clear whether the Ministry of Home Affairs or the Ministry of Culture will be the nodal body for the Ayodhya Ram temple trust, another official said. In a historic and unanimous verdict on Saturday, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi cleared the way for the construction of a Ram temple at the 2.77-acre disputed site in Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot a five-acre plot at a "prominent" location to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque. In its unanimous, 1,045 page verdict, the apex court said, "The Central Government shall, within a period of three months from the date of this judgment, formulate a scheme" under the Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act, 1993. Delivering the verdict on a case that has long polarised the country and frayed the secular tapestry of Indian society, a five-judge bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the faith of Hindus that Lord Ram was born at the site was undisputed, and he is symbolically the owner of the land.