Day 19 Arguments

July 11th 2019 

The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment which partitioned the disputed Ayodhya land equally among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. On March 8th the court ordered the parties to attempt resolving the dispute via mediation. A three member mediation panel comprising retired Justice FM Kalifulla, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Senior Advocate Sriram Panchu was set up. It was given time until August 15th 2019 to conduct mediation proceedings.

 

On July 9th, an interlocutory application was filed seeking the conclusion of the mediation panel’s proceedings and the listing of the appeal for final hearing. Today, the court heard this application.

 

K Parasaran, on behalf of the applicant Gopal Singh Visharad, contended that mediation had not led to a solution despite over 11 sessions taking place. He argued that the issue was too complex to be settled by mediation. Further, he contended that mediation was only one of the remedies, which could be pursued in parallel to hearings. He stated that if a settlement is achieved through mediation, it could be brought to court.

 

Sushil Kumar Jain, on behalf of the Hindu respondents, stated that they were worshippers, not title claimers.

 

Rajeev Dhavan, on behalf of the Sunni Waqf Board, contended that the mediation committee could not be criticised until they are required to appear before the court. He argued that concluding the mediation proceedings would effectively recall the court’s earlier order extending the mediation period until August 15th, merely because one party appeared to be fed up with the mediation process.

 

The court directed the mediation committee to submit a progress report by July 18th.

 

On July 18th, the court will decide whether the mediation proceedings should be concluded and the hearing of appeals should subsequently begin on July 25th.