The Supreme Court on Friday will conduct the hearing on theissues related to the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, anotification said.
The court authorities published a notice on the apex court’swebsite detailing on the composition of the bench that will hear the matter,and mentioned that the matter will be taken up at 10.30 a.m.
A five-judge Constitution bench comprising Chief justiceRanjan Gogoi, Justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. AbdulNazeer, will hear the matter for the first time since the last hearing on March8.
In the previous hearing, the top court had referred thepolitically sensitive case, which has greater societal ramifications, pendingfor many decades for mediation, and constituted a panel for the same purpose.
Former Supreme Court judge F.M. Kalifulla, is the head ofthe panel and he has been tasked by the court to hold consultation to explore apotential avenue through which an amicable settlement between the parties couldfinally arrive.
The other two members of the panel are Sri Sri Ravishankar,renowned spiritual guru and founder of Art of Living Foundation; and senioradvocate Sriram Panchu, who is a well known mediator in the legal circles. Thepanel was constituted after the court noted “the lack of consensus betweenthe parties in the matter”.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had asked the panel to conductin-camera proceedings and the complete the mediation within eight weeks.
The court had recommended this on February 26, when it tookup appeals regarding the dispute. The court said it could only decide on aproperty and what it was looking at was “a possibility of healingrelationships”.
During the hearing, the court had stressed to maintainconfidentiality of the proceedings conduct, as it will protect the on-goingdialogue to be shielded from unwarranted controversies and also unsolicitedcomments.
Muslim petitioners have welcomed the Court’s decision onmediation, but Hindu bodies, except for the Nirmohi Akhara and the UttarPradesh government, were not in favour.
The apex court is hearing appeals against the September 30,2010 verdict of the Allahabad High Court. The verdict ordered a three-waydivision of the disputed 2.77 acres site between the Nirmohi Akhara sect, theSunni Central Wakf Board, Uttar Pradesh and the deity Ramlalla Virajman.