The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to take up an early plea by the government to lift a ban on Hindu religious activity next to the ruins of a 16th-century mosque in northern India.
Chief Justice V.N. Khare, Justice S.P. Sinha and Justice A.R. Lakshmanan said they would stick to the original date of Feb. 21.
Last year, the court banned religious activity in the area to avoid any clashes between Hindus and Muslims since both communities claimed the plot of land. The Babri mosque was demolished by Hindu hard-liners in 1992, provoking riots that left some 2,000 people dead.
The government approached the court last week after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met a top Hindu cleric and discussed steps to resolve the dispute over the site in Ayodhya.
Both Hindus and Muslims claim the site of the destroyed mosque in Ayodhya, 550 kilometers (345 miles) east of New Delhi, and consider it holy. Hindus say it is the birthplace of their supreme god, Rama.
On Thursday, Kirit Rawak, the government solicitor-general, urged the court to consider the government plea before Feb. 21. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council, has demanded the government hand over the land next to the mosque ruins by Feb. 22.
The government acquired the 77-acre (31-hectare) plot from the Ram Janambhoomi Trust, an umbrella group of Hindu hard-liners, after the demolition.
Hindu nationalists want to start building a temple devoted to Rama on the land. They hope the Supreme Court will rule in their favor in the case that is to determine ownership of the site of the razed mosque.
The VHP has threatened to launch a nationwide campaign on Feb. 22 if the government does not accept their demand to give them the land.
Hindu groups already have constructed hundreds of stone pillars and statues of gods and goddesses for the temple and stacked them near the site.