The Supreme Court on Friday said that the mediation panel, set to resolve the Ram Janmbhoomi and Babri Masjid Dispute, has failed to achieve any final settlement in the case. The Top Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that matter will now be taken up in an open court on a daily basis starting from August 6.
Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhawan, appearing before the Top Court, submitted that he will take 20 days to argue his case. Responding to which, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said, ‘We will see to it’.
Earlier on Thursday, August 1, a three-member mediation panel headed by Justice Khalifullah submitted a final report of the mediation process in a sealed cover to the Top Court.
The three-member mediation panel, headed by Justice Kalifulla, had submitted the interim report in the Supreme Court on July 18. Following which the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi fixed the date of hearing on August 2 for further hearing in the case.
In the last hearing, the Apex Court requested the mediation committee to inform the outcome of the mediation proceedings by July 31st.
CJI Ranjan Gogoi says.' the mediation panel has not been able to achieve any final settlement.' https://t.co/7tjztpkJ0I
— ANI (@ANI) August 2, 2019
BACKGROUND:
Earlier, the Apex Court’s 5-Judge Constitutional Bench, had on March 8, referred the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Title Dispute Case for court-appointed and monitored mediation for a “permanent solution”.
The matter was referred to the mediation panel to develop consensus between both the parties, Muslims and Hindus, on the Ayodhya land dispute.
The Top Court Bench appointed three mediators that include – Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Senior Advocate Sriram Panchu – a trained mediator. Justice (r) Khalifulah was appointed to head the three-member panel.
Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had on Jan 25 reconstituted the 5-Judge Bench and inducted a Muslim Judge S Abdul Nazir. The new Bench was necessitated after Justice U U Lalit recused from the case on January 10. This was followed by Justice N V Ramana and UU Lalit withdrawing.
The Allahabad High Court in 2010 verdict had divided the land between three petitioners — two favored building a Ram Mandir at the Ayodhya site while the third wanted the Babri Masjid rebuilt.
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