HC verdict on Ayodhya on Thursday, SC dismisses deferment plea

New Delhi/Lucknow, Sep 28 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court
in northern India will deliver its verdict in the 60-year-old
Ramjanambhoomi- Babri Masjid title suit on Thursday after the
Supreme Court Tuesday cleared the path by dismissing a
petition for its deferment ending the uncertainty.
A three-judge Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court
will pronounce the verdict in the Ayodhya case on September 30
at 3.30 PM IST, the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Hari Shankar
Dubey said in Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh,
shortly after the Apex Court lifted its week-long interim stay
given last Thursday.
The Supreme Court's three-judge bench headed by Chief
Justice of India S H Kapadia gave a brief unanimous order
dimissing the petition by a retired bureaucrat Ramesh Chandra
Tripathi challenging the Lucknow Bench order rejecting his
plea for postponing the keenly waited judgement to explore the
possibility of mediation.
The bench also comprising Justices Aftab Alam and K S
Radhakrishnan however did not give any reasons for its order
giving the green signal for the High Court verdict after two
hours of arguments.
"Having considered in detail the arguments of the
parties, we are of the view that the SLP has to be dismissed.
Accordingly, the SLP stands dismissed," it said.
During arguments on the Special Leave Petition, the Bench
questioned the plea for deferment of the verdict.
"You are running against time because you woke up late.
That is after 50 years," Justice Aftab Alam said.
"The question is why you were quiet for all these
days. You had to strike a chord when the matter was in the
High Court," Justice Alam said.
The observations by the bench came when senior advocate
Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Tripathi, was buttressing the
argument that a settlement could be arrived at through
negotiations.
Anwsering the bench for the delay in exploring an
out-of-court settlement, Rohatgi said mediation was not a part
of the statute.
Justice Alam said lawyers of all the contesting parties
are at least in agreement on the issue of delivery of
judgement by the Allahabad High Court.
The September 30 date fixed by the Lucknow Bench assumes
importance since one of the judges of the three-member bench,
Justice D V Sharma, is to demit office on October one.
The other judges in the bench are Justice S U Khan and Sudhir
Agarwal.
Earlier, Attorney General G E Vahanvati, who was asked
by the apex court to assist it in Tuesday's hearing, said that
uncertainty should not be allowed to continue.
The Supreme Court decision was welcomed by the main
contesting parties to the title suit as well as the Centre and
all political parties including the Congress, Bhartiya Janata
Party and the Left.
Appealing for calm, the Government and the political
parties said the high court verdict should be respected.
"We welcome the (SC)verdict" was the refrain of all
sections.
Political parties also underscored that there was an
option of approaching the apex court by any of the parties to
the title suit after the HC verdict.
The Supreme Court has taken the "right decision" since an
overwhelming majority did not want the verdict to be further
deferred, Indian Law and Justice Minister Veerappa Moily said.
The verdict was to have been originally pronounced on
September 24.(MORE) PTI