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Supreme Court seeks report from mediators within a week, may hear Ayodhya case from July 25

Court asks for status report on mediation within a week, may conduct hearings daily

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In a bold move to settle the long-standing title suit involving the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid disputed site, the Supreme Court said on Thursday if the ongoing mediation failed to broker peace between the Hindu and Muslim parties to the suit, the court would hear the case on a day-to-day basis beginning July 25.

To get the latest update on the mediation front, the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asked the Committee of Mediators led by retired SC judge FM Ibrahim Kalifulla to table its report by July 18. On that day, the court will indicate the next course of action and fix a schedule for hearing the case. Since the CJI is part of the bench, once the hearing begins, the case may have to be heard before his retirement due in November.

The decision by the bench of CJI Gogoi, Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer gave a fresh lease of life to the Hindu parties to the suit, who had approached the court with an application to close the mediation and resume hearing on their appeals.

Arguing the application filed by the original plaintiff Gopal Singh Visharad, senior advocate K Parasaran told the court that mediation between the two parties had failed. He desired the court to take up the appeals against the September 30, 2010 judgment of the Allahabad High Court which ordered a three-way partition of the disputed site at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh between Sunni Wakf Board, Lord Ram and Nirmohi Akhara. The suit by Visharad dates to January 1950. Other lawyers appearing in support of the Hindu title to the suit supported Parasaran.

Even Nirmohi Akhara joined the ranks by accusing the mediators – also comprising spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior lawyer Sriram Panchu, for calling parties individually not jointly.

The Sunni Wakf Board was the lone voice left in court to defend continuation of mediation. Appearing for the Board, lawyer Rajeev Dhavan said, "Just because one party is fed up with mediation, they say scrap mediation. The purpose of filing this application is to intimidate us when a serious process is underway."

"Our understanding is that the mediators have met parties jointly and individually," Dhavan added.

The court had no hesitation to call for a report from the Committee, as it had received a report from them on May 10 seeking more time in the hope of arriving at a positive outcome. On that day, the court extended time for the Committee till August 15.

But in the light of the present application and the fact that mediation was meant to be a "temporary" exercise pending the verification of records for the appeals to be heard, the bench said, "If this court comes to a conclusion that, having regard to the report of Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla, the mediation proceedings should be ordered to be concluded, the court will do so and order for commencement of the hearing of appeals, tentatively, on and from July 25, 2019, which if required, will be conducted on day-to-day basis."

Title Dispute

  • SC bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi asks Committee of Mediators to table its report by July 18
  • If court finds that mediation, a ‘temporary’ exercise, should be closed, hearing of appeals will begin
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