The Supreme Court on Thursday, 11 July, asked the mediation panel headed by Justice FMI Kalifulla to inform the court of the status of mediation by 18 July, in the Ayodhya land dispute case.
The court further said that if the panel’s report indicates that the dispute cannot be solved through mediation, the matter will be heard by the apex court on a day-to-day basis starting 25 July.
The matter was heard by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
One of the original litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute on Tuesday, 9 July, moved the Supreme Court seeking early hearing of the matter, PTI reported.
The litigant said that ‘nothing much has been happening’ in the case which was referred to a three-member panel of mediators.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Gogoi was told by senior advocate PS Narsimha, appearing for litigant Gopal Singh Visharad, that the title dispute needed to be listed for urgent hearing before the court.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing one of the Muslim parties, opposed the application, but the bench decided it would take a final call on whether or not to let mediation continue based on whether the mediators believed there was a chance of success.
The court had constituted a three-member committee, chaired by Kalifulla, for exploring possibilities of an amicable settlement in the land dispute.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior Madras High Court advocate Sriram Panchu are also part of the panel. The proceedings must be conducted with "utmost confidentiality," the court had said. The judges had extended the deadline for the panel to complete its proceedings to 15 August after initially only giving eight weeks for the mediation process.
On 6 December 1992, the Babri Masjid, constructed at the disputed site in the 16th century by Shia Muslim Mir Baqi, was demolished.
In 2010, the Allahabad High Court had ruled that that 2.7 acre disputed land at the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site be equally divided among Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and Sunni Wakf Board.
(With inputs from ANI and PTI.)
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