Constitution bench of SC to hear plea for early hearing in Ayodhya land dispute case

One of the litigants in the Ayodhya dispute case had called for urgent hearing because `nothing much has been happening` in the case which was referred to the three-member mediation panel by the SC.

NEW DELHI: A five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will on Thursday hear an application filed by one of the main litigants in the Ayodhya land dispute case seeking early hearing of the matter. The other members of the bench include Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer.

According to reports, the top court will hear the case around 10:30 AM.

Senior advocate PS Narsimha, who appeared for litigant Gopal Singh Visharad, had on Tuesday told the bench that the apex court should list title dispute case for urgent hearing because "nothing much has been happening" in the case which was referred to the three-member mediation panel by the SC. 

After hearing advocate Narsimha's argument, the bench asked him whether he had filed an application for early hearing. The advocate replied saying that he had already done so.

It is to be noted that SC had granted the three-member mediation panel time till August 15 to find an amicable solution in the Ayodhya land dispute case. 

The committee, which submitted its interim report on Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid case in a sealed cover to the top court in May, had sought additional time.

A three-member mediation committee was constituted by the SC on March 8 to explore possibilities of an amicable settlement to the land dispute after noting “the lack of consensus between the parties in the matter.” 

The panel is headed by retired top court judge Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla and comprises of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior Madras High Court advocate Sriram Panchu. The SC bench had given eight weeks to the panel to complete the mediation process. 

A total of 14 pleas have been filed in the SC challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties - the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.