No Hearing on Ayodhya Dispute in Supreme Court

NEW DELHI:
The daily hearing on the Ayodhya title dispute could not be held in the Supreme Court on Monday as one of the judges on a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was not available.

The bench was scheduled to continue hearing of arguments of senior advocate C.S. Vaidyanathan, appearing for Ram Lalla Virajman, on the eighth day of the daily hearing in the case. Minutes before the start of the hearing, lawyers of both parties were informed by the court staff that Justice S.A. Bobde was not available on Monday to take part in the hearing.

The Constitution bench comprises of Chief Justice Gogoi and Justices Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S.A. Nazeer. Last week on Friday, Vaidyanathan had advanced his arguments by placing the findings of the report submitted by the Archaeological Survey of India to the Allahabad High Court.

Vaidyanathan argued that a massive public space, used for worshipping Hindu gods, existed at the disputed site and it dated back to the 2nd century BC. He also told the court that nothing of Muslim faith was excavated at the site. He said that a mosque was built on the ruins of a temple, and many objects from the temple”s ruins were used in the construction of the mosque.

A total of 14 appeals have been filed in the top court challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement in the four civil suits on the 2.77 acre disputed land. This land was partitioned equally among the three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and ”Ram Lalla Virajman”.

The Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992 in Ayodhya.