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Plea to implead Centre in Ayodhya
title suit

The Nirmohi Akhara, Sunni Central Waqf Board and eight other Muslim bodies on Monday filed objections to the Centre's application for a day-to-day hearing of the title suits in the Ayodhya case by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.

The Waqf Board and other eight bodies also requested the court to implead the Centre in the case.

"We have no objections to the daily hearing of the matter, but the Centre must first become a party before making a request to the court," the counsel for the SCWB and other Muslim plaintiffs, Zafaryab Jilani, said.

The Centre's petition, filed on March 6, was infructuous, as the high court had already passed an order on July 12, 2001, that the cases be heard on a day-to-day basis, he said.

Jilani said the Centre was not a party in the dispute and as such it could not seek any directions from the court. "We have requested the court to implead the Centre as it is the custodian of the acquired land in Ayodhya."

"We had approached the court for making the Union government a party in the matter in 1995, but the latter successfully opposed our petition then, pleading that it had nothing to do with the case," he said.

The Nirmohi Akhara said that after recording the evidence of one witness, the parties had to summon the next witness for which sufficient time was needed. As such, two weeks' time was sufficient for the high court to proceed in the case.

It alleged that due to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's pressure and agitation, the Centre moved the application for the first time after January 1995. ''It seems to have been rushed with mala fide intentions,'' it said.

The objections were filed before a bench comprising Justice S R Alam, Justice Bhanwar Singh and Justice Sudhir Narain.

PTI

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