Ayodhya Case: SC to take up mediation panel's report today

New Delhi, May 09: The Ayodhya land dispute case will be taken up by the Supreme Court on Friday following a report by the mediation panel. This is the first hearing after the top court ordered for mediation of the land dispute.

The matter will be heard by a Constitution bench comprising of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi and judges SA Bobde, Dr. DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer.

The Supreme Court constituted three-member mediation committee, tasked with exploring the possibility of an amicable settlement in the decades-old, politically sensitive, Ayodhya's Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, has submitted its interim report in a sealed cover.

According to the reports, the interim report was filed with the apex court Registry on May 6, and the matter has been listed for hearing on Friday.

In the last hearing the apex court had directed the three-member committee, formed to mediate in the Ayodhya dispute case, to submit the status report within four weeks and a final report within eight weeks.

The decades-old dispute will be settled through mediation and decided to refer the matter to the panel, which will be headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court, Justice FM Kallifulla.

The other two mediators include senior advocate Shri Ram Panchu and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The panel was asked by the apex court to hold an in-camera proceedings and complete it within eight weeks.

Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex 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.