'Let's make efforts to conclude Ayodhya land dispute case hearing by Oct 18': SC

New Delhi, Sep 18: With Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi set to retire on November 17, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said that the hearing in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title case should conclude by October 18.

"Let us all make joint efforts to complete it by October 18. If the need arises, we are ready to sit on Saturdays and some extra hours on weekdays to complete it," reports quoted Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi as saying.

"Simultaneously the mediation process can go along with the hearing, which is going on in SC, and if an amicable settlement is reached through by it, the same can be filed before the SC," news agency ANI quoted the five-judge Constitution bench, headed by the CJI, as saying.

The bench had yesterday asked all the lawyers to sit together to come up with a tentative schedule to complete their arguments so that the judges could figure how much time they have to write the judgment.

A five-judge Constitution bench is hearing the Ayodhya case from August 6 to decide the politically-sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute, after the efforts to arrive at an amicable settlement through mediation failed.

The Allahabad High Court, in its judgment of 2010 on four civil lawsuits, had partitioned the 2.77-acre disputed land equally among the three parties - Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla. Fourteen appeals have been filed in the Supreme Court against the verdict.