Ayodhya case: Mediation panel to submit status report today, next hearing Aug 3

New Delhi, July 31: Mediation panel in the Ayodhya land dispute case will submit status report in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court on Thursday. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi will next hear the case on August 3 after examining the report.

In March the Supreme Court referred the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case for mediation and appointed former SC judge Justice (retd) F M I Kallifulla as chairperson of the panel of mediators.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had then said the other members of the panel will be spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu. The bench directed that the mediation will be held at Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh.

The bench had also directed that panel of mediators can co-opt more members in the team and in case of any difficulty the chairman will inform the court's registry about it. Fourteen appeals have been filed in the Supreme Court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.