Should the Supreme Court appoint experts to check whether the temple stands on the exact Ayodhya Ram Temple Site adjudicated in the 2019 Constitution Bench verdict? A petition listed for hearing on Monday asks it to do so, and also seeks a CAG audit of temple donations.
New Delhi: An independent, court-appointed commission of survey, revenue and archaeological experts, to determine whether the Ram temple at Ayodhya has been built on the precise land that a five-judge Constitution Bench adjudicated upon in November 2019, is what the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Case Trust wants from the Supreme Court. The Court will take up the plea on the Ayodhya Ram Temple Site on November 2. The trust also seeks directions for an annual audit of the temple’s accounts by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India [Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Case Trust’s Petition].
The cause list published on the Court’s website shows the matter before a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana.
The prayer for a court-appointed commission
At the centre of the petition is a request that the Court constitute a fact-finding body of specialists of its own choosing. The petition asks the Court to:
“Direct constitution of an appropriate independent court-appointed committee/commission, comprising such qualified survey, revenue, archaeological and other technical experts as this court may deem fit, for the purpose of determining whether the temple presently constructed/developed is situated upon the exact premises and land adjudicated by this court.”
Tied to that prayer is a request for an independent survey or demarcation of the premises covered by the 2019 verdict, one that identifies the precise boundaries, coordinates, extent and location of the land to which the judgment and decree relate.
Should the verification disclose any material discrepancy between the land adjudicated by the Court and the land on which the temple has been built, the trust asks for appropriate directions so that the mandate of the 2019 judgment is faithfully carried out.
Maps, plans and records to be preserved
For the proposed verification, the petition wants the authorities concerned and the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust directed to preserve, and produce before the Court, all original documents, maps, plans, surveys and records bearing on how the temple premises were identified, demarcated and developed.
Who is asking, and who the prayers are aimed at
The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Case Trust, the petitioner, is a separate entity from the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, the body set up to construct and manage the temple. Several of the directions sought in the plea are aimed at the Teerth Kshetra Trust. The respondents’ stand is not yet on record. The Court has not issued notice, and no view has been expressed on any of the prayers.
Donations, audit and pilgrim facilities
The temple’s finances form a second strand of the plea. The trust seeks directions that donations, offerings and receipts be digitised every day and displayed on a continuous basis, and that the temple’s accounts be audited every year by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. According to the petition, the object of these measures is to prevent misappropriation.
The trust further asks for a direction on constructing facilities for devotees who travel to Ayodhya from across the world. The petition contains other prayers as well, the particulars of which are not yet available.
The 2019 decree and the decision behind it
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled unanimously on November 9, 2019, in M Siddiq (D) through LRs v. Mahant Suresh Das. It held that the 2.77 acres of disputed land at Ayodhya would remain vested in the receiver appointed by the Central Government, to be handed over within three months to a trust to be constituted for building a temple. The Centre was also directed to allot an alternative plot of five acres to the Sunni Central Waqf Board at a prominent place in Ayodhya for the construction of a mosque.
The judgment disposed of 14 appeals against the 2010 decision of the Allahabad High Court. Deciding four civil suits, the High Court had ordered that the 2.77 acres be divided equally among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque that stood on the site, was demolished on December 6, 1992.
What the Bench will have to weigh
The plea does not seek to reopen the 2019 judgment, which is a final decree of the Supreme Court. It asks for a factual check on execution instead: whether the construction that followed corresponds, on the ground, to the land the decree dealt with. Whether such a verification is called for, and whether the petitioner has standing to seek it, are questions the Bench will have to address once the respondents are heard.
The financial prayers raise a separate question of accountability in the management of a temple that receives offerings from across the country and abroad. Whether courts can direct a CAG audit of a private religious trust, as opposed to a statutory or government body, will be central to how the Court deals with that part of the plea.
Case Title: Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Case Trust’s Petition (full title awaited)
Bench: Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana, Supreme Court of India
Date of Listing: November 2, 2026