Supreme Court may conclude hearing of Ayodhya case on Wednesday, the 40th day

NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Tuesday said that Wednesday is the 40th and last day of hearing in the case of Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid land title dispute.

During the hearing in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice Gogoi said: "Today is 39th day. Tomorrow is the 40th day and last day of hearing in the case."

The five-judge bench headed by Justice Gogoi was hearing appeals challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict, which ordered equal division of the 2.77-acre of disputed land in Ayodhya among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Ram Lalla.

Meanwhile, the apex court on Tuesday saw sharp exchanges between the lawyers representing Hindu and Muslim parties during the proceedings in the politically sensitive Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who represents Muslim parties, got up and intervened when former Attorney General and senior advocate K Parasaran (appearing for a Hindu party) was submitting that a "historical wrong" was committed by Mughal emperor Babur after his conquest of India more than 433 years ago by constructing a mosque at the birthplace of Lord Ram and it needed to be corrected.

"This is entirely a new argument. All this could have been argued by them in other lawsuits as well. I am entitled to give reply in rejoinder arguments," Dhavan told the bench, also comprising justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer.

Parasaran, along with another senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, objected that there were a lot of interruptions from the other side and the court should set the things right as this is the case of public right.

The bench then said it will allow Dhavan to make rejoinder submissions. The top court then granted 45 minutes' time tomorrow to Vaidyanathan to wrap his arguments and said that other lawyers for the Hindu parties can manage the time among themselves.

The 16th-century Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992. The top court had recently said that it would wrap up hearing in the case on October 17, a day earlier than it was scheduled to. The judgment is likely to be passed on November 4-5.

(THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS)

1646 Days ago