Ayodhya Case: Supreme Court Defers Hearing To 10 January

The Supreme Court on Friday deferred the hearing to 10 January in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case, according to reports.

“Further orders will be passed by an appropriate bench on 10 January for fixing the date of hearing in the matter,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice SK Kaul said.

The top court was expected to take up a batch of petitions for hearing in the title dispute case.

The apex court on 29 October had fixed the matter in the first week of January before an “appropriate bench”, which will decide the schedule of hearing.

Later, an application was moved for according an urgent hearing by advancing the date, but the top court had refused the plea, saying it had already passed an order on 29 October relating to the hearing on the matter.

The plea for early hearing was moved by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) which is one of the respondents in the appeal filed by legal heirs of M Siddiq, one of the original litigants in the case.

A three-judge bench of the top court had on 27 September, by 2:1 majority, refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue of reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgement that a mosque was not integral to Islam. The matter had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute. 

Various Hindutava organisations have been demanding an ordinance on early construction of Ram temple at the disputed site.

(With PTI inputs)