Ayodhya Case: When a CJI and four future CJIs were set to hear the dispute

New Delhi, Oct 16: The Ayodhya Case is being heard by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi.

The others on the Bench comprise Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer.

However, the composition of this Bench was different when it was originally constituted on January 2019. The Bench had Justices Gogoi, S A Bobde, N V Ramana, U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud. The composition of the original Bench was an interesting one as it comprised the CJI and four future Chief Justices of India.

However, as the hearing began, Justices Ramana and U U Lalit recused themselves, following which a new Bench had to be constituted.

When the first Bench was constituted, it was said that it includes a more inclusive system especially in the wake of the infamous press conference that the four senior-most judges had addressed when Justice Dipak Misra was the Chief Justice. The judges had expressed differences over the CJI being the master of the roaster. They also said that matters were being allocated to Benches in an arbitrary manner.

The four judges, including Justice Ranjan Gogoi, had sought for a system to handle administrative matters of the court. Justice Kurien, who has now retired on the last day of office had sought for a more inclusive system and wanted the entire court to be taken along to reduce the arbitrariness.