A three-judge bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice K M Joseph will begin the hearing in the Ayodhya case tomorrow and draw the framework of the future proceedings.
Adv Vishnu Jain, who is a party to the case, said that it is possible that this bench may hear the case on a regular basis or a proper bench may be constituted for that matter.
The Ayodhya case has been pending before the court since 2010 and the hearing in the case has not started yet.
On Sept 27, 2018, a three-judge bench of the then CJI Deepak Mishra, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S.K. Abdul Nazir with a 2:1 majority had refused to refer the case to a larger bench. Justice S Abdul Nazeer dissenting with the two judges had said whether a mosque is integral to Islam has to be decided considering religious belief which requires detailed consideration. The order of the court came in response to a challenge by senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for the Sunni Waqf Board, to the ruling in Ismail Farokhi case in 1994 wherein the court held that a mosque was not integral to the practice of Islam. He sought that the case be reconsidered by a larger bench before starting final arguments. The court had ordered the constitution of a new bench which will commence hearing from October 29 on a batch of petitions filed by both the sides — Hindu and Muslim stakeholders — challenging the 2010 high court judgement.
In March this year, the Supreme Court had disallowed any new interventions in the case however it admitted the plea of Subramanian Swamy to consider his fundamental right to worship.
