Ram Mandir Ayodhya case latest update: Reiterating the October 18 deadline for hearing to conclude in the decades-old Ram Janmbhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday said it will be a difficult task to deliver a verdict in four weeks time and that the arguments must get over by the said date. CJI Gogoi, who heads the five-judge constitution bench hearing the matter, is slated to retire on November 17.
“If arguments can’t get over by Oct 18, there won’t be an extra day. It will be miraculous if we deliver the judgment in 4 weeks,” CJI Gogoi said. Concerned parties then assured the apex court that they will try to abide by the set deadline.
Last week, the Supreme Court had asked the counsels for the Hindu and Muslim parties to inform it about a tentative “time schedule” for concluding their arguments. Day-to-day hearing in the sensitive matter began on August 6 after the mediation process, which was set up on the orders of the Supreme Court, failed to yield any desired result.
The court had formed a panel under former Supreme Court judge FM Kalifulla to settle the issue amicably through mediation. Other members of the panel were senior advocate and renowned mediator Sriram Panchu and Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar. The process went on for nearly four months without any final settlement.