Ayodhya case to be heard by Supreme Court on Jan 4

New Delhi, Dec 24: The Supreme Court will on January 4 hear a public interest litigation (PIL) questioning the delay in adjudication of Ayodhya matter. The matter is listed before a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul.

The top court had in October rejected an urgent hearing after the Uttar Pradesh government argued that it was a 100-year-old dispute that should be taken up on priority.

The court ruling had triggered loud demands for an ordinance within the BJP and various groups linked to its ideological mentor RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) to pave way for the construction in the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The court is likely to constitute a three-judge bench for hearing as many as 14 appeals filed against the Allahabad High Court judgement, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77 acre land be partitioned equally among three parties - the Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

Meanwhile, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday said that the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit must be heard by the Supreme Court on a day-to-day basis.

Addressing a press conference, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said, "The government wants the Ram temple matter to be heard on day-to-day basis so that this issue is resolved at the earliest."