New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday closed the contempt proceedings against the state of Uttar Pradesh and others arising out of the demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992.
The petition was filed by one Mohammed Aslam Bhure in 1992 against Uttar Pradesh for violating the undertaking given to the Supreme Court regarding the maintenance of law and order in the area.
A bench headed by Justice S.K. Kaul said the issue does not survive now and referred to the November 2019 verdict of a constitution bench which awarded the title of the land to the Hindu litigants.
A five-judge constitution bench of the apex court had on November 9, 2019, cleared the way for the construction of a Ram Temple where the Babri Masjid once stood in Ayodhya and directed the Union government to allot a five-acre plot at an alternate location to the Sunni Waqf Board for building a mosque.
While closing the contempt proceedings, the bench observed that the matter ought to have come up for hearing earlier.
The counsel appearing for the petitioner told the bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Oka and Vikram Nath, that the contempt plea was pending for a long and the petitioner had died in 2010.
“I appreciate the fact that the matter ought to have come up earlier,” Justice Kaul said.
(With PTI inputs)