The panel of mediators is “optimistic” about an amicable solution to the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya, the Supreme Court said on Friday while extending till August 15 the time for completion of the process.
A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said it received a report from former apex court judge Justice F M I Kalifulla, who is the chairman of the panel, in which the committee has sought extension till August 15 to complete the mediation proceedings.
“If the mediators are optimistic about the result and are seeking time till August 15, what is the harm in granting time? This issue has been pending for years and years. Why should we not grant time,” the bench, also comprising Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok
Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, told the counsel appearing for the parties concerned. “They (panel) have submitted to the court to consider extension of time, which we are inclined,” the bench said at the outset. The apex court had on March 8 referred the matter to the panel of mediators for exploring possibility of an amicable settlement and appointed Justice (retd) Kalifulla, spiritual guru and founder of Art of Living foundation Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate and renowned mediator Sriram Panchu as members of the mediation committee.
During the brief hearing on Friday, the counsel appearing for both the Hindu and Muslim parties expressed confidence over the ongoing mediation proceedings and said they are fully cooperating with the process.
When one of the lawyers raised the issue of translated copies of several documents in vernacular languages, the bench said they have received a report on May 7 from the chairman of the panel and “the member of the committee have not expressed any such difficulty”.
“We have perused and considered the report of May 7 of Justice F M I Kalifulla indicating the progress made in the mediation proceeding. Chairman of the mediation committee has sought extension of time till August 15 to enable the committee to find an amicable solution.
We are inclined to grant time till August 15,” the bench said, adding that the panel would submit its report to the court after that.
One of the advocates appearing in the matter said the apex court had earlier given eight weeks time to the panel of mediators to complete the proceedings and now nine weeks have gone by.
“We had given eight weeks and the report has come. We are not inclined to tell you what is there in the
report of the committee,” the bench said.
One of the counsel told the bench that there are around 13,990 pages of documents in several vernacular languages and said some wrong translations have been made which would be a problem.