New Delhi: In a major relief for pilgrims, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed repairing of covers and providing other facilities at makeshift Ram Lalla Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya.
The court also directed that the makeshift Ayodhya temple shed be maintained by local authorities.
“The exercise has to be undertaken by District Collector of Faizabad under the supervision of two independent observers,” the court stated.
The order came months after the apex court in March had asked the Centre to consider the facilities feasible in the present scenario that could be provided to pilgrims at ‘Ram Janam Bhoomi’ site near the disputed structure at Ayodhya.
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking basic minimum facilities for pilgrims.
The BJP leader submitted that pilgrims, who are devotees of Lord Rama, are deprived of even basic facilities like drinking water and toilets and face difficulty due to inadequate arrangement made by both the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government.
Swamy had said the status quo order passed by the apex court in 1996 was limited to prohibiting building of any structure at the disputed site.
In his application, he had sought an order from the apex court to “ameliorate the lot of millions of Hindu pilgrims who make the pilgrimage to the site of the ‘Ram Janam Bhoomi’ at Ayodhya, to have a ‘darshan’ and perform ‘pooja’ in honour of ‘Sri Ram Lalla Virajman’.”
(With PTI inputs)
