There is no graveyard within the 67 acre of land where Ram temple is to be built, the district administration of Ayodha said on Tuesday.
The administration responded to a letter sent to the Ram Temple Trust by Supreme Court lawyer MR Shamshad, on behalf of nine Muslim residents, claiming that the land had earlier been used as a graveyard.
Anuj Jha, District Magistrate, Ayodhya, told reporters, "At present there is no graveyard within the 67 acre campus of the Ram Janambhoomi."
The district magistrate said, "The Supreme Court was apprised of all the facts during hearing of the case (Ayodhya title dispute), including contents of the letter (written by lawyer MR Shamshad). This issue also came up during hearing of the case. In the Supreme Court's judgment on November 9, 2019, all these facts were also clearly mentioned."
In its landmark judgement last year, the Supreme Court had handed over 2.77 acre land (disputed before the judgment) to the centre for construction of Ram temple.
The court also directed the centre to constitute a trust for construction of the temple.
On February 5, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet approved the allotment of five acre land to the state's Sunni Waqf Board for the construction of a mosque as ordered by the Supreme Court.
The cabinet decision came immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of the trust to build a Ram temple at the site, as directed by the Supreme Court.
The 15-member trust called "Shri Ram Janambhoomi Tirath Kshetra" trust is scheduled to hold its first meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday at the residence of Supreme Court lawyer K Parasaran, who is the head of the Board of Trustees.
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