A mediation panel set up by the Supreme Court to resolve the Ayodhya land title dispute submitted its report to the top court on Thursday in a sealed cover, Hindustan Times reported. The court will take up the matter on Friday.
The panel – led by retired Supreme Court judge FMI Kalifulla, and comprising spiritual leader Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu – had submitted a status report on July 18. The week before, court had asked the committee to expedite the settlement process after Gopal Singh Visharad, one of the original litigants in the case claimed it had made no progress.
The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, had also said it would hear the matter on a day-to-day basis if the mediators failed to resolve the dispute. It is not clear if they will start the daily hearings on Friday, reported The Indian Express.
The panel was set up on March 8 and it began the negotiations with both Hindu and Muslims litigants in Ayodhya five days later. The committee held the final round of discussions over three days, starting July 29, in New Delhi.
The dispute has been going on for several decades, with both Hindu and Muslim groups claiming their right to it. The Babri Masjid stood there before it was demolished in 1992 by Hindutva activists. In 2010, the Allahabad High Court had ordered the land to be divided in three equal parts between the Nirmohi Akhara, the Sunni Wakf Board and the representative for the deity Ram.
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