Top court favours mediation to resolve Ayodhya land row
SC to pass orders on whether to refer issue to mediator March 6.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday favoured an out-of-court settlement of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute thro-ugh mediation between Hindu and Muslim parties, which will be monitored by the court.
While giving this suggestion, a five-judge Constit-ution Bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, and Abdul Nazeer, said it would consider passing appropriate orders in this regard on March 6.
The CJI observed in the order that a court-monitored mediation, if ordered, would be done with “utmost confidentiality”. The mediation would confront issues raised before the court in the appeals.
The CJI said that since eight weeks’ time is being granted to verify the accuracy and relevance of the translation of documents done by the Uttar Pradesh government, this period may be effectively utilised for mediation under Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code.
The CJI also expressed the hope that mediation may spell a peaceful end to the title dispute between two faiths over the land where the Babri Masjid once stood before it was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992.
The Muslim groups represented by senior advocates Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, and Raju Ramachandran expressed their willingness for mediation if the court directed such a course.
However, senior counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan, for the deity Lord Ram, and senior counsel Ranjit Kumar, for some Hindu groups, opposed mediation on the ground that it had not yielded the desired results earlier.
Mr Vaiyanathan pointed out that even Kanchi Sankaracharya tried mediation, but could not succeed.
Meanwhile, senior counsel Sushil Kumar Jain, for Nirmohi Akhara, agreed for mediation.
The court will pass orders next Wednesday on whether the issue should be referred to a court appointed mediator.
The parties were directed by the court to examine the records and point out their objections. At the outset, the CJI made it clear that the hearing will commence only if parties accept the translations prepared by the UP government as authentic.
The Chief Justice of India told the counsel that the court does not intend to wait indefinitely to hear the appeals.