Knew that Ayodhya mediation panel would fail to provide a solution: Yogi Adityanath

Ayodhya: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that he knew that the three-member mediation panel, which was constituted by the Supreme Court to resolve the long-pending Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute, would fail to provide a solution.

The Chief Minister, however, appreciated the efforts made by the three-member mediation panel to resolve the highly vexed issue.

Referring to an example from Hindu mythology ''Mahabharata'', Adityanath said, "Supreme Court had constituted a three-member team for mediation (Ayodhya land dispute), it was unsuccessful, we knew already mediation would lead to nothing but attempts for mediation are good. The mediation attempts were made before Mahabharat too, but their result was unfruitful."

Ít may be recalled that the Supreme Court on Friday observed that the mediation panel on Ayodhya matter has failed to achieve any final settlement in the matter and decided to hold a day-to-day hearing in the case from August 6.

"We have received the mediation report. The mediation panel has not been able to achieve any final settlement. The hearing of the case will be on a day-to-day basis, the hearing begins from August 6," Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, who was heading a Constitution Bench, said.

Gogoi-led Constitution bench had on July 18 asked the three-member committee, headed by retired apex court judge FMI Kalifulla, to continue with the mediation process and submit a report on the progress made till July 31. 

Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior Madras High Court advocate Sriram Panchu were the other members of the Ayodhya mediation panel.

The bench also comprising Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, took up a batch of petitions seeking an end to the mediation process and start fresh hearing in the Ayodhya title suit.

After perusing a report of the panel, the bench had said if it came to a conclusion that an amicable solution through mediation was not possible, then the court would commence day-to-day hearing in the matter. 

Fourteen appeals are pending before the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict which ordered equal division of the 2.77-acre disputed land in Ayodhya among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. The 16th-century Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992.

(With ANI inputs)