Ayodhya dispute: Supreme Court sets up panel to settle matter

In this photo taken on December 9, 2018, Hindu hardliners hold a cut-out of a temple as they participate in a rally, calling for construction of a temple on the site of the demolished Babri mosque in Ayodhya. Pic/AFP

The Supreme Court on Friday referred the decades-old politically sensitive Ayodhya's Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case for mediation by a panel headed by former apex court judge F M I Kalifulla for exploring the possibility of an amicable settlement.

Spiritual guru and founder of Art of Living foundation Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu, a renowned mediator, will be the other two members of the panel of mediators.

The mediation process will commence within a week and the panel will submit the progress report within four weeks, the top court said. It said that the mediation proceedings, which would be held "in-camera", be completed within eight weeks, which is the interregnum period granted earlier by the apex court to the parties in the main Ayodhya case to go through translations of oral and documentary evidences.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said it does not find any "legal impediment" to make a reference to mediation for a possible settlement of the dispute.

"We therefore order accordingly, and having taken note of the names suggested by the parties, we are of the view that the following panel of mediators should be appointed to go into the dispute with liberty to the mediators to co-opt other members of the panel, if so required," it said.

'Ravi Shankar not a neutral person'
AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a member of the Supreme Court-appointed panel to mediate the Ayodhya dispute, was "not a neutral person" and claimed that he had made controversial comments on the issue in the past.

AIMPLB welcomes apex court order
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court referring the vexed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case for mediation, saying it would be most befitting that the matter is resolved through negotiations. "The SC has given this order and it needs to be welcomed.... It would be most befitting that the matter is resolved through dialogue...let's see what happens now," AIMPLB General Secretary Maulana Wali Rehmani told the media.

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