NEW DELHI, March 7 (IslamOnline) - In a significant move, the Indian Government Wednesday approached the Allahabad High Court for a hearing of the case relating to the Ayodhya dispute.
A petition was filed by the Center before the Lucknow Bench of the High Court requesting that the hearing of the case relating to the dispute be on a day-to-day basis. At present the case is moving at a snail's pace. The Mosque-Temple case has been dragging in various courts for the last fifty years since idols were installed in the Babri Mosque in December 1949.

The application was filed in a fresh initiative taken by the Centre to resolve the Ram Temple-Babri Masjid dispute, a day after the Kanchi Shankaracharya floated a formula to break the deadlock.

The Indian government stressed to the Court that under the Acquisition Act of 1993, the Union of India was statutory receiver obliged to maintain status quo till the suits are disposed, spending about Rs 300 million annually.

The All India Babri Masjid Action Committee, a party to the Ayodhya dispute, said Wednesday it would consider the Kanshi Shankaracharya's latest compromise proposal to end the impasse only when VHP writes to the court clearly spelling out its demand for transfer of the acquired land.

Shankaracharya of Govardhanpeeth Swami Adhokshajananda Tirth, an important Hindu religious leader, today came out strongly against a move to hand over the acquired land at Ayodhya to VHP saying the Sangh parivar (RSS family) was a group of "anti-social elements" which was spreading violence in the name of religion.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, he alleged that the Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati who is mediating in the Ayodhya imbroglio was "being used and pressurised" by the Government to legitimize to the VHP's agenda which he said was not different from that of the BJP.

"Even if the acquired land is given to the VHP leaders, I and my followers will not take it lying down. What can be constructed, can be finished also," he threatened.
Criticising the VHP, RSS and Bajrang Dal, he said "they have nothing to do with religion. They are killers in the name of religion and Ram temple kill innocent people." Adhokshajananda demanded a ban on VHP and arrest of its top leaders.

Continuing his search for a solution to the Ayodhya imbroglio, Shankaracharya Wednesday held consultations with a delegation of Imams on handing over the acquired land to Ramjanambhoomi Trust.

The Imams led by Maulana Jameel Ahmed Ilyasi, President of All India Organisation of Imams of Mosques, said that they sought time till March 13 for holding discussions among themselves to reach a decision. Maulana Ilyasi said the Imams needed time to deliberate on the issue as the acquired land also consists of some Waqf property. Stating that both Hindus and Muslims should abide by the court verdict on the issue, he felt that the government was free to give the acquired land to either the temple or the mosque.

Shankaracharya had yesterday told an 11-member AIMPLB delegation, led by its Secretary General Syed Nizamuddin, that VHP has agreed on three things -- that it would abide by the court verdict on the disputed site, if Muslims win the title case they (VHP) would guarantee to see that the mosque was constructed on its original site and the temple plan would be amended accordingly so as not to use the disputed site to construct Garbh-griha (sanctum sanctorum), he claimed.

The VHP has always claimed that the sanctum will be where the mihrab of the mosque once stood.

"We have not given any undertaking that we will abide by any verdict given by the court. We have said that the status quo will be maintained" VHP Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore told reporters here. The significant statement came when reporters grilled him on whether the Trust President Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra Das had given any undertaking that it would abide by the court verdict as reported in the press following Kanchi Shankaracharya's statement.

While sticking to the undertaking that the status quo would be maintained, he said, "at no cost the Babri mosque will be allowed to be rebuilt at the disputed site. For all practical purposes, it was a temple of Ram. It is and it will remain so."

Asked what would be the VHP's response if the court ruled in favour of Muslims, he said, "the court verdict cannot be against history. It was on the court's orders that the temple's locks were opened and there are court orders that uninterrupted 'puja' (Hindu prayers) be allowed at the disputed site".