Ayodhya mediation begins, 3-member team aims to resolve mandir dispute

Ayodhya, Mar 12: The three-member Supreme Court appointed mediation team in the decades old Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute case reached ground zero in Ayodhya on Tuesday. The two mediators - senior advocate Sriram Panchu and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - will oversee preparations being done by the state government ahead of the formal start of the mediation process. Meanwhile there are reports that former Supreme Court judge FMI Kalifulla would be reaching Ayodhya on March 15.

According to reports, the Yogi Adityanath government has come up with a mini secretariat inside the Awadh university campus to assist the Ayodhya mediation panel in its task.

SC bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi observed that a panel headed by former SC judge F M Kalifulla and comprising spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and well-known advocate-cum-mediator Sriram Panchu could conduct a dialogue with contending parties to arrive at a negotiated settlement.

The mediation process will take place in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, and will remain confidential and closed to the media. The panel has been directed by the court to submit the status report within four weeks and the final report within eight weeks.

Earlier on March 6, with Hindu parties, except the Nirmohi Akhara, steadfastly opposing mediation, terming it a futile exercise, and Muslim parties expressing willingness, the five member bench had reserved its verdict on the desirability of mediation for the contentious dispute and told the litigant parties to give names of mediators.