Podcast | What is the Surplus 67 Acres of Land in Ayodhya Dispute?

What is the 67 acres of surplus land acquired by the Centre around the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site?

(Photo: The Quint)

On Tuesday, the Centre moved Supreme Court asking to hand over surplus land acquired by the government in the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi site back to the original owners.

Two questions on your mind, right? What is this surplus land? And why is the government asking the SC to return it? And will its demands be met? We'll answer all these questions in this podcast.

To answer the first question, the Centre had acquired 67 acres of land in 1993 in the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi Masjid site – around the 2.77 acres of land where the Babri masjid stood until its demolition in 1992.

So what the purpose behind acquiring all the extra land? Well, it was stated that to bring back harmony, the dispute would have to be resolved and to ensure that it is resolved all the adjacent land also had to be acquired.

But why did the Centre ask the SC to return the surplus land to its rightful owners?

We'll have to rewind a little and go back to the Mohd Aslam @ Bhure vs Union Of India And Ors hearing of 2003. Because what the Centre is asking for is to modify the 2003 decision where the court had categorically held "that the status quo has to be maintained only until the suits pending before the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court are disposed of.”

But what is the Centre's interest in releasing all the superfluous plots right?

The Centre’s interest towards it is mostly the fact that 42 acres of land around the disputed site belongs to Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas.

Now the third question is that the status quo has been maintained for good reason, so will it be met?

Legally it shouldn’t work, unless its proven that the circumstances are different and thus the lands can be restored to their owners. Tune in to the Big Story for more!