New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the much-awaited verdict on the Ayodhya title suit by the Allahabad High Court?s Lucknow bench by a week, leaving “room” for a possible out of court settlement, an option trashed by the contending parties.
There would no verdict on the Ayodhya dispute title suit on Friday (Sept 24) as the Supreme Court division bench, which itself was divided, deferred it by a week, acting on the plea of a petitioner seeking the deferment of the verdict by the high court in view of the upcoming Commonwealth Games and possibility of an out of court settlement.
The Supreme Court will hear the deferment plea of the verdict awaited from the Allahabad High Court’s Lucknow bench on Sept 28.
The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices RV Raveendran and HL Gokhale while entertaining the petition, however, differed.
Justice Raveendran wanted Tripathi’s petition to be dismissed but Justice Gokhale, opined on issuing a notice for giving one more chance of a settlement outside the court.
However, Justice Raveendran, who was heading the bench, preferred to go by the view of Justice Gokhale who felt that even if there is one percent chance of reconciliation it should be explored.
Mukul Rohtagi, counsel for the petitioner Ram Chandra Tripathi who had sought deferment of the verdict, said ?may be the various sides can find a solution to the issue outside the court.?
However, the lawyers of the two sides- the Hindus and the Muslims- said they were unhappy with the deferment and there is no hope for reconciliation.
Ranjana Agnihotri, lawyer for Ram Janambhoomi Punaruddhar Samiti, said: “We are disappointed. A reconciliation could have been reached even after a verdict. I do not know why the court deferred it.”
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad who is one of the senior lawyers representing the Hindu groups said: “The High Court tried for reconciliation but this man (petitioner) had not appeared then. May be someone is playing some game in the name of Commonwealth Games.”
“People were expecting a verdict. It was a split verdict today,” Prasad told a TV channel saying he was speaking as a lawyer and not as a BJP spokesperson.
“How a stranger who is a non-serious party can disrupt it,” he said referring to the petitioner (Ram Chandra Tripathi).
.Lawyer for the Babri Action Committee representing the Muslims, Zafaryabd Jilani, ruling out any reconciliation, said: ?I am not disappointed. We can wait for four more days having waited for 50 years.?
?We hope the matter comes up on 28 or 29 [Sept],? he said.
He, however, echoed the Hindu group, and said there is no hope for a reconciliation.
Ram Chandra Tripathi, the petitioner, had sought deferment of the judgement in view of the Commonwealth Games in October since the verdict might lead to communal flare-ups.
His plea was shot down by the High Court earlier and he was even fined but later it was revealed that the judges in the high court had differed on the issue.
The verdict on the 60- year-old Ayodhya title suits to determine who owns the disputed land is being awaited with eagerness by both the Muslims and Hindus and with consternation by the governments tasked to prevent riots over the issue.
The entire nation will be awaiting the decision by the three-member Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, comprising of Justice S U Khan, Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice D V Sharm, in one of the fieriest affairs in the country.
Over 2,000 people were killed in the riots that followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid by Hindu kar sevaks on December 6, 1992, who claimed the Masjid was built after demolishing a Ram temple in 1528.