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CJI says ‘enough is enough’ n Hearing concludes amid high drama n Order reserved
NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court wrapped up a marathon, sometimes acrimonious 40-day hearing on the Ram JanmabhoomiBabri Masjid title suit on Wednesday by reserving its verdict, preparing the way for a judicial settlement of the decades-old dispute centred on 2.77 acres of land in the ancient city of Ayodhya.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi completed hearing the suit at 4pm, an hour earlier than the deadline set earlier in the day by Gogoi, who declined to accept an intervention application in the last leg of the case. A verdict will be delivered before the CJI retires on November 17.
“By 5pm, this matter is going to be over. Enough is enough,” said Gogoi, who heads the bench also comprising justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and SA Nazeer.
Ahead of the verdict, the Uttar Pradesh state government strengthened security across the state and cancelled until November 30 the leave of all field officers, including the police and administration, posted in all 75 districts, additional chief secretary Mukul Singha said in an order on Wednesday.
A senior state government officer said the measures were taken in view of the Supreme Court’s likely verdict on the Ayodhya land dispute as well as coming festivals.
The final day of hearing didn’t lack for drama.
Advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Muslim parties, tore up a map showing the purported birthplace of Lord Ram, handed to him by a lawyer for the Hindu Mahasabha, one of the parties to the case. When Gogoi remarked that Dhavan could shred the papers some more, the lawyer proceeded to do so, prompting the CJI to say the judges would be forced to walk out and call for decorum in the courtroom.
The scene was triggered when senior counsel Vikas Singh handed over some pages consisting of pictorial maps and other pages by relying on the book Ayodhya Revisited.
Also on Wednesday, the Sunni Central Waqf Board downplayed reports that it was withdrawing its claim to the site. “Any application for withdrawal will be given in the court; so far no such application has been filed,” Zafaryab Jilani, advocate for the Board, said.
People familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that some parties from both the Hindu and Muslim sides, including the Sunni Central Waqf Board, on Wednesday told the Supreme Court through a mediation panel that they could agree to a settlement in which a temple would be built on the disputed site in lieu of certain safeguards for mosques across the country.
The people said that the proposal, submitted to the top court by the mediators – retired SC judge justice FMI Kalifulla, senior advocate Sriram Panchu and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar – effectively offers a possible road map for the court as it prepares to deliver a verdict.
The case before the Supreme Court, lasting 180 hours and 40 days spread over two months, entailed the second-longest oral hearing in history by a constitution bench of the Supreme Court. The longest remains the 1972 Kesavananda Bharati case in which a bench of 13 judges ruled on the powers of Parliament. That hearing was spread over 68 days.