Subramanian Swamy moves SC for enforcement of right to pray at Ayodhya

Subramanian Swamy

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, at whose instance the sensitive Babri Masjid-Ram Temple land dispute cases were fast-tracked, on Monday, moved the Supreme Court seeking urgent hearing of his plea for enforcement of his fundamental right to worship at the birthplace of Lord Ram.

A bench comprising Chief Justice (CJI) Dipak Misra and Justices A Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud considered the submission of Swamy that his fundamental right to worship at the site was at the higher pedestal in contrast to the property rights of the rival parties to the civil litigations.

"No, no. Not now," the CJI said. The Centre was represented by senior advocate Aman Sinha.

Earlier, a special bench of the CJI and Justices Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer, on March 14, had dashed the hopes of activists like Shyam Benegal and Teesta Setalvad to intervene in the Ayodhya land dispute case and made it clear that only the parties to original lawsuits would be allowed contest.

It had also disallowed Swamy, at whose instance the cases were fast-tracked, to intervene in the main case. However, the bench had considered Swamy's submission that he had not sought to intervene in the matter but filed a separate writ petition seeking enforcement of his fundamental right to worship at the birthplace of Lord Ram in Ayodhya.

"I had filed a writ petition saying that I have a fundamental right to worship and this is a superior right than a property right," Swamy had said.

"As we are not inclined to permit the intervention application, the writ petition filed by the applicant (Swamy) shall stand revived and it shall be dealt with by the appropriate bench in accordance with law," the bench had said. Today, Swamy sought urgent listing of his plea for the enforcement of fundamental right to worship.

The special bench of the apex court is seized of a total of 14 appeals filed against the high court judgement delivered in four civil suits. A three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court, in a 2:1 majority ruling, had in 2010 ordered that the land is partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara, and Ram Lalla.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates