Earlier in 2010 the Allahabad High Court had partitioned the property where one-third each had been granted to the deity, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Sunni Central Waqf Board The Supreme Court held that the high court had exceeded its powers by partitioning the property even though no such prayer had been made by any party either in the suits or before the Allahabad High Court While doing so it held that only the Supreme Court had powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to grant extraordinary relief and the high court did not have any such constitutional power The Supreme Court on Saturday delivered a long-awaited judgment in the longest-running civil dispute in the history of India — it held that the 1,500 square yards of disputed land in Ayodhya, where the Babri masjid once stood until it was demolished in 1992 by karsevaks, belonged to 'Bhagwan Shri Ram Virajman' the deity who was the plaintiff by legal fiction in one of the three claims to the disputed land out of which the appeals had arisen before the Supreme Court. Earlier in 2010 the Allahabad High Court had partitioned the property where one-third each had been granted to the deity, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Sunni Central Waqf Board. The Supreme Court held that the high court had exceeded its powers by partitioning the property even though no such prayer had been made by any party either in the suits or before the Allahabad High Court. While doing so it held that only the Supreme Court had powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India to grant extraordinary relief and the high court did not have any such constitutional power. While setting aside the judgment of the Allahabad High Court the Supreme Court, however, exercised powers under Article 142 to pass various orders which had not been originally prayed for by the parties to the controversy. So, what is Article 142 of the Constitution? Article 142 of the Constitution empowers the Supreme Court to "…pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or orders so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India…". This is a very wide power granted to the Supreme Court which allows it to mould any relief in a way that its orders become more effective if it feels that doing so would be in the interest of justice and equity. In exercising this power, the Supreme Court may pass any directions in its wisdom which otherwise may not have been provided for in law or asked for by the parties before it. The philosophy behind this is that justice should not only be done but it should also appear to be done. For example, in a case where the Supreme Court grants compensation to a victim of a motor vehicle accident it may even pass directions to relevant authorities to provide medical aid free of cost or provide employment to next of kin of the victim if it feels that the victim deserves so in the interest of justice. This is an extraordinary power which was probably intended to be utilised only in the fittest of cases. However, what is now prevalent is that the Supreme Court passes orders under cover of Article 142 even in cases where the law may not support its position or may not provide for such relief. Recently, a bench of the Supreme Court hauled up bureaucrats from the state of Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh for not controlling stubble burning which leads to a great smog during winters in North India. It passed a slew of directions which would otherwise have been in the domain of the executive. In the Ayodhya judgment, the Supreme Court thus described its power under Article 142 — "The phrase 'is necessary for doing complete justice' is of a wide amplitude and encompasses a power of equity which is employed when the strict application of the law is inadequate to produce a just outcome. The demands of justice require a close attention not just to positive law but also to the silences of positive law to find within its interstices, a solution that is equitable and just. The legal enterprise is premised on the application of generally worded laws to the specifics of a case before courts." In simpler words, the power under Article 142 can be exercised when the Supreme Court has to decide difficult cases where adequate laws may not exist, or existing laws may not be adequate, in order to deliver complete justice.