Govt has full faith in judiciary: Prasad on Ayodhya

The government has full faith in the judiciary and fully respects it, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in Raipur on Monday, hours after the Supreme Court postponed hearing on the Ayodhya issue to January next year.

At the same time, he said a lot people in the country want the case to be heard quickly.

The Supreme Court has fixed the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute cases for the first week of January next year before an appropriate bench, which will decide the schedule of hearing.

Addressing a press conference here in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, Prasad said the Bharatiya Janata Party never linked the Ram Mandir issue with polls.

"The Supreme Court today said the hearing (on the Ayodhya land title dispute cases) will be held in January. As a law minister, I should not say anything else, as you understand that there are certain limitations," Prasad said.

"I would like to humbly say that a lot of people in the country want that the hearing on the issue should be completed soon. We have full faith in the court and we fully respect it," the minister added.

Prasad was in Chhattisgarh for campaigning for the first phase of voting, scheduled to be held on November 12. The second phase of polling will be held on November 20.

"We have never linked the Ram Mandir issue with polls. It is good if it (the issue) can be resolved through talks. A lot of people want that the hearing should be held as early as possible over the matter," said Prasad.

"I was representing 'Ram Lalla' (infant Lord Ram) in the Allahabad high court where we won (in 2010), and it was concluded that the place where Ram Lalla is placed, should be given to Hindus. Later, the other party approached Supreme Court," he said.

A three-judge bench of the Allahabad high court had in 2010 ordered that the 2.77 acres of land be partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

As many as 14 appeals have been filed against the high court judgement, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77 acres of land be partitioned equally among three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

A three-judge bench of the supreme court, by a 2:1 majority, recently refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgement that a mosque was not integral to Islam.

The matter had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.