2 Ayodhya parties request resumption of mediation in case

THE REQUEST BY THE NIRVANI AKHARA AND SUNNI WAQF BOARD, HOWEVER, DOES NOT APPEAR TO HAVE THE SUPPORT OF ANY OF THE OTHER MAIN PARTIES

NEW DELHI: The three-member Ayodhya mediation panel on Monday told the Supreme Court that two of the 16 parties to the Ram Janmabhoomi-babri Masjid case want the mediation effort to be resumed in the decades-old land dispute even as a Constitution bench of the top court is holding daily hearings in the matter.

In an application, the panel told the court that it has received written requests from two parties — one from the Hindu side, Nirvani Akhara; the second from the Muslim side, Sunni Waqf Board — for a resumption of the mediation process that ended in August with the issue still unresolved.

The mediation panel — led by former Supreme Court judge FMI Kalifulla and also comprising lawyer Sriram Panchu and Art of Living founder Ravi Shankar — asked the Supreme Court for a decision on the two requests, stressing that the dayto-day proceedings would not have to be stopped to give out-ofcourt negotiations another shot.

While the Sunni Waqf Board is the principal Muslim party to the matter, the Nirvani Akhara is one of the three Ramadani Akharas involved in the case, the other two being the Nirmohi Akhara and the Digambar Akhara.

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court is hearing petitions challenging a 2010 Allahabad high court order that trifurcated the 2.77-acre-site between the Nirmohi Akhara, the Sunni Central Waqf Board, and Ram Lalla (the child deity).

The bench — Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, and justices SA Bobde, Ashok Bhushan, DY Chandrachud and S Abdul Nazeer — has now held day-today hearings for 24 days.