SC to hear Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid title dispute on January 4

Appeals are listed before a Bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S.K. Kaul

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi

The volatile Ayodhya dispute appeals have been listed before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India on January 4, 2019.

The Supreme Court’s main cause list for January 4 shows that an application for early hearing and the appeals are listed before a Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice S.K. Kaul. On October 29, a three-judge Bench led by Justice Gogoi had ordered the appeals to be listed in January 2019 before an appropriate Bench to fix a date for hearing.

The October order had come when the parties had sought an early hearing. At the time, Justice Gogoi had orally told them that the decision when to start hearing the appeals would be in the realm of discretion of the “appropriate Bench” before which the matter would come up in January.

“We have our own priorities... whether hearing would take place in January, March or April would be decided by an appropriate Bench,” the Chief Justice had remarked.

Majority opinion

On September 27, the apex court, in a majority opinion, had declined the plea made by Islamic bodies and individuals to refer the question as to whether prayer in a mosque is an essential part of Islam to a seven-judge Constitution Bench.

The majority verdict, in its last paragraph, had further directed the Supreme Court to start hearing the pending cases from October 29. This direction had triggered questions whether the court intended to deliver a judgment in the appeals before the May 2019 elections.

In 2017, when the court had started to hear the appeals after a hiatus of over seven years, senior advocate Kapil Sibal had suggested it to adjourn the hearings to after the general elections in May 2019.

HC verdict

The Ayodhya appeals are against the September 30, 2010 decision of the Allahabad High Court to divide the disputed 2.77 acre area among Sunni Waqf Board, Nirmohi Akhara and the Ram Lalla. The High Court had concluded that Lord Ram, son of King Dashrath, was born within the 1,482.5 square yards of the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid premises over 9,00,000 years ago during the Treta Yuga.