Ayodhya land dispute: Mediation fails, daily hearing from August 6

CJI Gogoi is due to retire on November 7 and Friday’s decision will mean that the hearing will have to be completed and a judgment delivered during his tenure, failing which the matter will have to be heard afresh.

The bench, also comprising Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer, said the hearing will start with appeals arising from suit numbers 3 and 5 which were filed by the Nirmohi Akhara and Ramlalla Virajman respectively.

“The hearing, which will be on day-to-day basis until the arguments are concluded, will start with the appeals arising out of Suit Nos. 3 and 5,” the bench said in its order.

On September 30, 2010, the Allahabad High Court ordered a three-way division of the disputed 2.77 acres of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site between the Nirmohi Akhara sect, the Sunni Central Wakf Board, Uttar Pradesh and Ramlalla Virajman.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for one of the parties, said the court should first hear appeal number 4 which was filed by the Muslim parties. But the court said he will have the right to reply.

Dhavan also opposed BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s right-to-pray petition in the matter, saying he was not a party to the main suit. On this, the court said it will consider it when the hearing starts. “There are many issues… Let’s first start hearing the appeals,” the CJI remarked.

The bench had appointed the mediation panel under Justice Kalifulla on March 8 and given it eight weeks to complete the process. The panel later asked for more time and on May 10, it got the extension. It submitted its report to the Supreme Court Registry Thursday.

In the interim, an application was filed by Rajendra Singh, son of Gopal Singh Visharad — he was one of the plaintiffs in the original civil suit in the Ayodhya land matter — stating that there was not much progress in the mediation. He urged the court to declare the mediation proceedings concluded so that hearing on the appeals could start.

Singh’s father, a resident of Ayodhya, had moved the court of the Faizabad civil judge in 1950, claiming that his right to worship had been impeded by the state government which disallowed him from going near the idol of Ramlalla. He had sought an injunction against the removal of idols.

Singh said “despite initial reluctance in the process of mediation, the applicant herein wholeheartedly participated in the mediation proceedings conducted by three eminent persons appointed by the court. However, in three meetings participated during five months, neither any concrete proposal has come from anyone nor any headway is likely to be made in the process of mediation.”

Hearing the plea on July 11, the court had called for a status report from the panel which also had Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu as members. After considering the status report on July 18, the court called for one more status report by August 1.