Ayodhya petitioner to move Supreme Court

LUCKNOW - Retired bureaucrat Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, whose plea for a court direction to the parties in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute to find an amicable and out-of-court settlement was dismissed by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court Friday, will now move the Supreme Court.

“The high court order has not disheartened me at all and I am definitely going to file an appeal before the Supreme Court,” the 73-year-old Tripathi told IANS here.

“I am not ready to give up as my effort was aimed only at serving the larger objective of ensuring peace and communal harmony in the country,” he said.

“Since there is very little time left for the final judgment which is slated for Sep 24, I have to rush to Delhi as soon as possible,” he added.

When his attention was drawn to the high court’s order that had not only questioned his motives, but also charged him of making an “attempt to divert, deviate and obstruct” the Ayodhya case that was pending before courts for six long decades, Tripathi shot back: “Well, the high court has all the right to draw its own conclusions, but tell me, what would a 73-year-old man achieve by doing all that the court has accused me of attempting?”

Meanwhile the 16-page written order released by the three-judge bench of Justice S.U. Khan, Justice Sudhir Agrawal and Justice D.V.Sharma late Friday evening, has termed the amicable settlement plea as “mischievious”, for which a Rs.50,000 fine has been slapped on Tripathi.

“Considering the facts and circumstances and also the fact that the applicant, without any lawful excuse or reason, has filed this application, we hold this attempt mischievous and therefore, he deserves to be imposed exemplary costs of Rs.50,000,” the bench ruled.

The bench also frowned on Tripathi’s plea that the verdict could lead to law and order problems.

“We are really surprised to hear the wonderful argument by which he tries to frighten a court of law alleging apprehension of violence if judgment is delivered and thereby asking the court not to decide a case.

“The ways and means may be sophisticated but the end game is clear. This is something what the people of India least expect from a court of law and that too the highest court in a province,” the court added.

The court has also not spared the media while dealing with Tripathi’s plea that his apprehensions about law and order threats were based on media reports.

“We find that of late, reports in both the electronic and print media are not exactly correct. Instead of giving correct information to enlighten the masses, incomplete and sometimes incorrect information is given, more so as sensation than communication of correct information,” it said.