In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya was legitimate and the much-awaited Ram Mandir will be inaugurated on January 22. While the controversy over the Ayodhya site began in the late nineteenth century, India's courts became the final judges in 1950, when the first suit was filed. (Image: PTI)
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A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Ranjan Gogoi, then Chief Justice of India, along with Justices SA Bobde, Ashok Bhushan, DY Chandrachud, and Abdul Nazeer, issued a momentous decision in the Ayodhya land dispute case on November 9, 2019. Interestingly, the Supreme Court passed the judgement on a holiday to avoid commotion. (Image: PTI)
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The primary contestants in the suit were Ram Lalla Virajman (Lord Ram's idol), Nirmohi Akhara (a Vaishnavite denomination), and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board. All parties claimed possession of the land. (Image: PTI)
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The five-judge bench unanimously ruled that the contested land would be transferred to the centre and directed the centre to establish a trust within three months to supervise and manage the construction of a temple on the site. The court also ordered the government to give the Sunni Waqf Board an appropriate and suitable five-acre tract of land in a prominent location in Ayodhya. (Image: PTI)
Before hearing the land issue on its merits, the five-judge court opted to refer it to mediation. In February 2019, the bench chose retired Supreme Court Judge Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and senior counsel and mediation expert Sriram Panchu as mediators. But on August 2019 the panel told the court that no agreement was achieved through mediation and so the court decided to start hearing the case immediately. It eventually delivered its verdict in November 2019. (Image: PTI)
