Parties of Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute can settle the issue

New Delhi, March 14: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the parties to the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute were free to settle the contentious issue between themselves but it will not ask them take it as a way forward except for deciding the title issue.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S. Abdul Nazeer said this as a number of applicants including the resident of Ayodhya and Faizabad urged to court to ask parties to the dispute - Sunni Wakf Board and Nirmohi Akhara - to arrive at a compromise.

"You say that they must compromise, how can we issue notice on it," said Justice Bhushan, making it clear that it was for the parties to settle the issue but as far the court was concerned it would not get into it except for deciding the title suit.

The court also said this to former Union Minister Arif Mohammad Khan who told the court that two professors of MIT Pune have drawn a plan to convert the disputed site into a place of worship for all religions and teaching of their spiritual tenets.