UP Sunni Central Waqf Board decided to accept the five acres of land offered to construct a mosque after the Supreme Court verdict of November 9, 2019.
A charitable hospital, public library and Indo-Islamic cultural centre would also be constructed at the site. Six of the eight members were present at a crucial meeting on Monday, even as two members — Imran Mabood and Adul Razzaq, chose to boycott it.
The land was given to Sunni Waqf Board as per the Supreme Court verdict to compensate for the demolished Babri mosque at Ayodhya. The Board also decided to set up a trust for the construction of the mosque.
The Sunni Waqf Board was the main litigant from Muslim side in Ram Janma bhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute title suit. A Board team had visited the alternate land last week.
Chairman of UP Sunni Central Waqf Board Zufar Farooqui said, “In Monday’s meeting held in Lucknow, members discussed the formalities related to accepting the land, initiating the formation of a trust and deciding on other linked structures, apart from the mosque, that could come up on the five-acre land.”
“Besides the mosque on the alternate land, the board will also set up a cultural centre depicting Indo-Islamic architecture and civilisation. The names of trust members and other details will be announced at a later date,’’ said Farooqui.
The board chairman further said that the centre would also undertake study and research in Indo-Islamic architecture. He said that a charitable hospital, public library and other facilities for common people would also be set up at the centre.
On February 20, UP Sunni Central Waqf Board had said that it did not have the option to reject the alternative piece of land given to it by the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict but it would decide on its use when it meets on Monday.
In a historic verdict on Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in November, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya. It also ruled that an alternative five-acre plot be found for a mosque. Soon after the verdict, there were suggestions that the Board should not accept the land.
Based on the SC verdict, the Centre had asked the UP government to allot five acres of land to Sunni Waqf Board.
The UP cabinet allotted a land tract on February 5 and gave allotment letter of the plot in Dhannipur village in Ayodhya’s Sohawal tehsil to the Waqf Board earlier this months. The plot is located 200 metres off Ayodhya-Lucknow highway, about 18-km from Ayodhya district headquarters.