A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court formed to resolve the Ayodhya dispute paved the way to build a temple through central government-monitored trust and ruled that Muslims must get alternate land to build a mosque.

The court has given the central government 3 months to formulate a scheme for the trust that will make necessary regulations for the management of the trust.

The court said that until the trust takes over it, the possession of the property shall continue to be with the receiver.

It added that suitable land of 5 acres should be handed over to the Sunni Waqf Board. The directions for allotment of land to Muslims are issued under Article 142.

Justice Gogoi is slated to retire on November 17. Though the court can sit any day, hear the case and also deliver its verdict, November 17 is a Sunday and usually, the verdict in an important case is not announced on a holiday.

The court's decisions are also not announced on a day the judges retire. Also, November 16 is a Saturday.

Besides, the last working day of Justice Gogoi is November 15. This had led to speculation that the verdict of the Ayodhya case could be heard by a bench headed by Justice Gogoi on November 14, or November 15.

Normally, if the court announces a verdict, the next day, the plaintiff or one of the defendants requests the court to review the decision again, and the process generally takes one or two days.

However, neither the court nor the government had earlier indicated that the verdict in the Ayodhya case could come before November 14-15.

Suddenly, on Friday night, it was announced that the verdict on the Ayodhya case will be pronounced at 10.30 a.m. on Saturday.

It is believed that this sudden announcement was a part of a strategy to keep the anti-social at bay, so that they did not get any opportunity to prepare for any kind of conspiracy, ahead of the announcement on this sensitive, emotional and faith-related matter.

- Inputs from IANS

First Published:Nov 9, 2019 6:41 AM IST