Congress leader and senior Supreme Court lawyer Kapil Sibal would be a happy man today. While representing the Sunni Waqf Board in the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid case in Supreme Court, Sibal, in December 2017 had asked the court to defer the trial until after 2019 or as many inferred, until the next Lok Sabha elections.
With today’s adjournment of the matter till January 2019, it seems increasingly unlikely that any verdict will be reached before general elections next year.
The Supreme Court has adjourned hearings in the Ayodhya dispute until January next year. Uttar Pradesh SG Tushar Nehta had sought an early hearing citing the nature of the case. However, the CJI rejected early hearings asserting that the “the court has its own priorities.”
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph proceeded to order today that the case will be listed in January 2019 for fixing a date for hearing.
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) October 29, 2018
Priests from Ayodhya are upset with the delay and insist that the Court should make arrangements for the speedy resolution of the conflict.
Ayodhya priests object to the delay in #RamMandirHearing pic.twitter.com/3YaeENIFmH
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) October 29, 2018
The Supreme Court has also said that it will decide in January whether the case should be heard in February, March, April or after that.
CJI: List the case in Jan 2019 for fixing the final date of hearing & the bench.
Solicitor General: Can we list it in the week after Diwali?
CJI: Court has other priorities. We will decide in Jan whether the case should be heard in Feb, Mar, Apr or after that.
— Nalini ? (@nalinisharma_) October 29, 2018
The Supreme Court was hearing a batch of pleas challenging Allahabad High Court’s 2010 verdict which divided the disputed land into three parts, where two-third portion to be shared by two Hindu plaintiffs and one-third to the Sunni Muslim Waqf Board. The case will now be heard in first week of January before appropriate bench for fixing a schedule for hearing.
