One of the key parties to the Ayodhya title dispute Nirmohi Akhara has said it would challenge the Allahabad High Court’s verdict in the Supreme Court following similar decision by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) last week, thereby ruling out most chances of an out-of-court settlement at this stage.

The decision by Nirmohi Akhara - which received one-third of the disputed land under the judgement - was announced yesterday, just a day after AIMPLB’s 17 October decision that also supported the Sunni Central Waqf Board’s resolve to appeal to the apex court, according to media reports.

However, it is still undecided if the AIMPLB, being an authoritative decision making bodies in the Indian Muslim community, will file the appeal as an independent body or will join with other parties. The AIMPLB was never a party to the title suits, which were decided by the Allahabad High Court on 30 September.