Supreme Court Gives Deadline of August 15 To The Ayodhya Mediation Panel

Guwahati: The Supreme Court of India has given time to the Ayodhya mediation panel till August 15 to find a solution which was tasked with exploring the possibility of an amicable settlement of the decades-old issue of Ayodhya land dispute.

Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi during a hearing on Friday said that they are not going to tell what progress has been made as it is said to be confidential.

Justice FM Khalifullah sought more time to reach a solution while Advocate for Muslim parties, Rajeev Dhavan said that they support all attempts at mediation if a conclusion can be reached.

The other members which comprise of the mediation panel are the Founder of Art of Living Shri Shri Ravi Shankar and Senior Advocate Sriram Panchu who is a trained mediator.

The court order says that the mediation was to take place at Faizabad.

During the hearing, the Supreme Court had directed both the Hindu and the Muslim organizations to maintain utmost confidentiality during the process of mediation which was to be held in-camera.

The top court is hearing petitions challenging a 2010 Allahabad High Court order that trifurcated the 2.77 acre-site between Nirmohi Akhara, the Sunni Central Waqf Board and Ram Lalla (the child deity).

A petition was filed by the Centre which wants to release 67.7 acres of land acquired in 1993 around the site which has been considered by the Supreme Court. In the petition, the Centre wants to release 67.7 acres of land except for .303 acres on which the actual disputed structure stood to its original owners.

The Uttar Pradesh government and the Hindu parties, however, opposed the suggestion for mediation in the matter and the Hindu except for the Nirmohi Akhara which is a religious denomination that is one of the main parties to the civil suit but was welcomed by the Muslim side.

The top court suggested mediation as a possibility for the first time to resolve the contentious dispute in a hearing on February 26.

Earlier on a hearing, Justice Bobde asked the parties not to tell history. The judges suggested an amicable resolution while telling the parties that they were seriously giving a chance for mediation in an attempt to heal relationships.

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