The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a private body set up in 1973, "unanimously" decided to challenge the Sept. 30 ruling of the Lucknow High Court in India's Supreme Court, forum spokesman M.A. Rahim Qureshi said.

According to the ruling, the site in the northern town of Ayodhya would be split, with one third going to Muslims and the rest to Hindus, including a spot in the center where they plan to build a temple to Ram.

"We feel the ruling suffered from a number of infirmities and the board considers it the right and obligation of Indian Muslims to challenge the judgment," he said in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

The decision was taken at a closed-door meeting of the 51-member executive held at the Darul-Uloom Nadwatul-Ulema, popularly known as Nadwa here. Chaired by Maulana Rabe Hasan Nadwi, the rector of the Nadwa, the meeting was attended by prominent Islamic scholars and preachers from different parts of the country.

A board source earlier said no consensus could be reached on an amicable out-of-court settlement even though some members of the board expressed their views in favor of such a settlement.

Zafaryab Jilani, the lawyer for the Muslim group Babri Masjid Action Committee, which had claimed the whole site, said Muslims would not surrender their claim to the site in Ayodhya.

"This issue can only be sorted out when the claim of Muslims is upheld. We cannot surrender our claim," he added.

In 1992 the razing of the 16th-century Babri Mosque on the site by Hindu fanatics sparked riots that killed more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims, in some of the worst sectarian violence since partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.

Hindus, who were pleased that the court ruling respected their belief that the central dome of the razed mosque had stood over Ram's birthplace, too plan to appeal the high court verdict to push their claim to the entire site.

Qureshi, however, said the board was open to a compromise formula. "We do not have a formula of our own (but) if the others come up with a formula then we can consider it provided it is in conformity with the tenets of the Shariah (Islamic law) and the Indian Constitution," he added.

The Sunni Central Waqf Board had earlier decided to appeal the high court order. However, since the All India Muslim Personal Law Board is the highest decision-making body regarding religious rights of Muslims in the country, the final decision on the issue was left to the board.

Ever since the destruction of the mosque 18 years ago the Ayodhya site has been cordoned off with barbed wire and steel fencing and guarded by troops.