The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain the Uttar Pradesh plea for early hearing of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, saying it has different priorities. The court fixed the case for the first week of January before an “appropriate Bench” which will decide the schedule of hearing.
The court’s decision is a big blow to the temple protagonists who had hoped for an early resolution of the dispute and day-to-day hearing of the case that could have paved the way for building of the Ram temple before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
“We will fix the date of hearing of the Ayodhya dispute case before the appropriate Bench in January,” said a three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, and comprising Justices SK Kaul and KM Joseph.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan, appearing for the UP Government and deity Ramlala respectively, sought early listing of the appeals in the case after referring to their long pendency. But the Bench remained unimpressed and clearly indicated the case was not a priority for it.
“We have our own priorities. Whether the matter will be heard in January, February or March, the appropriate Bench will decide,” the Bench said.
Hopes for expeditious settlement of the Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case were revived after a three-judge Bench, by a 2:1 majority last month, refused to refer to a five-judge Constitution Bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgment that a mosque was not integral to Islam. The matter had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.
The majority view by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and Justice Ashok Bhushan ordered that the hearing in the main Ayodhya title suit appeals should resume from October 29.
Justice S Abdul Nazeer, in a stinging dissent, observed that the question of what is essential and what is not in a religion cannot be hastily decided as is being done by the majority on the Bench now.
As many as 14 appeals have been filed against the High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77 acre land be partitioned equally among three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.