Supreme Court refuses to entertain plea seeking declaration of Ayodhya Ram Mandir land as 'Ayodhya Buddha Vihar'

The Supreme Court of India on Friday refused to entertain a plea to declare the land in Ayodhya where Ram Mandir is being built, as 'Ayodhya Buddha Vihar'. .The petitioner, Vineet Maurya, contended that Buddhist artefacts had been recovered from the site, a fact which was recorded by the Allahabad High Court in its 2010 judgment in the Babri Masjid - Ram Mandir dispute. Hence, the land should be declared as an archaeological site of national importance under Sections 3 and 4 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, it was argued..A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha, however, said that the apex court had dealt with the matter in the Ayodhya judgment and asked Maurya to either withdraw the petition failing which the bench will dismiss it.m .Maurya then proceeded to withdraw the plea. .As per the plea, before the construction of the Babri mosque at the site in the 16th century, there were structures and artefacts relating to Buddhism at the site, which were demolished to build the mosque..Maurya claimed that the Allahabad High Court in its 2010 verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute recognized that there was evidence of stupas and pillars with Buddhist architectural features at the site, according to historians, the Archaeological Survey of India, and witnesses in the case. .According to him, no further conclusions were made regarding the claims of the Buddhist community because the applications filed by Buddhist community members to join the case were declined, preventing them from presenting their argument before the High Court..[Read order].The Supreme Court had in 2019 awarded the site to the Hindu parties and allowed construction of a Ram Mandir at the site.