A HIGH Court ruling has paved the way for peace to be restored to a divided Bury mosque at the centre of a three-year power struggle.

And the two factions involved in the lengthy court battle over who should run the town's Parker Street mosque now face huge legal bills totalling £90,000.

Wednesday's (July 4) final judgment was delivered to both parties at Manchester High Court and will result in fresh executive committee elections at the Parker Street and associated Walmersley Road mosques, to be overseen by the Electoral Reform Society.

And the man who was instrumental in launching the civil action has expressed the hope that both sides of the dispute can finally work together.

Mr Mohammed Riaz, who was previously chairman of the mosque's executive committee, said: "Whoever is elected, we will give them our full support."

In 1998, the showpiece £260,000 mosque became embroiled in an angry row over who should run it. The dispute led to violent clashes at the mosque with nine people being treated in hospital after one incident.

The four owners of the mosque, who say they invested £80,000 of the £120,000 required to buy the site, said they should be in charge.

They appointed themselves trustees and legally registered the place of worship as the Jamia Masjid Mosque. They contended Parker Street should be administered separately from the other mosques in Walmersley Road and Cook Street which came under the umbrella of the Khizra Mosque Welfare and Cultural Centre (Bury and Radcliffe).

However, they were challenged by Mr Riaz who claimed he and his colleagues were the lawful management committee. He also failed to persuade the trustees to agree to a new election.

Mr Riaz and others then launched their High Court challenge two-and-a-half years ago to press for the Parker Street and Walmersley Road mosques to fall under the one trust.

This move was challenged by the defendants, effectively the trustees. In his judgement, however, Mr Justice Blackburne found in favour of the claimants led by Mr Riaz.

The judge said: "I see no reason why the Parker Street mosque should be subject to a separate trust and possibly separate control -- and the court's powers deployed to enable this to come about -- simply because of a clash of personalities has arisen among some of the members of the community."

Now, under the ruling, a four-strong steering committee, comprising two people from each side, will be appointed.

They will help prepare for the election of a new executive committee, which may not take place until the end of the year.

After the judgment, Mr Riaz defended the cost of launching the legal action. "I feel it was worth it. We were willing to sit down and negotiate but a few people wouldn't come to the table. This was a matter of principle," he said.

Disclosing he did not hold any grudges against the defendants involved the court action, he added: "We hope we can work together with them for the future of the Parker Street mosque and for the town of Bury."

Dr Mazae Ud Din, one of the defendants, said there were "no winners or losers" in the High Court case with no costs being awarded to either side.

On the judgement, he commented: "The good news is that, after three years of wrangling, we are now on course to resolve this issue. Both parties concede we are taking a good direction whereby proper, democratic elections will be held for all the mosques which will be under the one trust."

Asked if £90,000 was a high price to pay for peace, Dr Ud Din went on: "It was worthwhile as far as future generations are concerned.

"It's also worth it because otherwise the same old thing would have continued. Parker Street will become a role model for other mosques, admittedly for one heck of a price."