A day after mediation panel report, Supreme Court to decide future course on Ayodhya land dispute today

New Delhi: A day after the Ayodhya mediation report failed to reach an amicable solution on the land dispute, the Supreme Court will hear the matter on Friday and decide the future course of action. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi had, on July 18, asked the three-member mediation panel headed by former Supreme Court judge FM Khalifulla to submit the report between July 31-August 1.

“We request the mediation panel to inform the court the outcome of the mediation proceedings as on July 31,” the bench, which also consisted of justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer had said. The panel submitted its report to the Supreme Court on Thursday in a sealed cover.

On July 11, K Parasaran, the senior lawyer for Rajendra Singh, one of the petitioners had said, “Since mediation is unlikely to bring any positive result, the court should give a date for a hearing in the case.”

The panel was constituted by the Supreme Court on March 8. A total of 14 appeals are pending before the top court against the 2010 order of the Allahabad High Court which ordered that the 2.77-acre plot is equally divided between the disputing parties — Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.