Making It A Habit? Supreme Court Defers Ram Janmabhoomi Hearing To 5 March; Calls For Mediation

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (26 February) deferred the hearing on the Ram Janmabhoomi case to 5 March to decide whether the matter should be referred for mediation, reports Bar and Bench.

The case is being heard by a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer.

The apex court also directed the parties to examine translated documents and point out objections and agreements with the translated documents within 6 weeks.

“Once we start the hearing, we don’t want the parties disputing the correctness of translation of documents and delaying the hearing,” said Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, as reported by Bar and Bench.

“Even if there is one percent chance for mediation between parties, we should give it an opportunity,” Justice SA Bobde observed during the hearing.

The five judge bench was re-constituted on 25 January as Justice UU Lalit, who was member of the earlier bench, had recused himself from the case, as reported by theTimes of India.

The Supreme Court had on 27 January cancelled the scheduled hearing in the case to 29 January due to unavailability of Justice Bobde.

According to the report, as many as 14 appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 verdict of Allahabad High Court in the matter. The High court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, ordered the 2.77 acre land in Ayodhya to be partitioned among the three parties - the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.