Ayodhya dispute case: Supreme Court seeks report on status of mediation proceedings by July 18 

The Supreme Court of India.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court, on Thursday, directed the three-member mediation panel, which is headed by Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla, in the Ayodhya land dispute case to submit the status of the proceedings in the matter by July 18. The other two members in the panel include spiritual teacher Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu.

The apex court also said if they find that the reports don’t suggest any amicable solution and the mediation needs to be concluded, then a day-to-day hearing will begin from July 25, on appeals against Allahabad high court’s September 30, 2010 verdict in the matter.

The court was hearing a plea filed by Rajendra Singh, son of Gopal Singh Visharad, one of the plaintiffs in the original civil suit regarding the Ayodhya land who claimed that there was “not much progress” in the mediation ordered by the court and urged it to declare “that the mediation proceedings … have been concluded”.

Visharad, a resident of Ayodhya, had moved the Court of civil Judge in Faizabad in 1950, claiming that his right to worship was obstructed by the state government that disallowed him from going near the idol. He had sought an injunction against the removal of idols.

However, the top court, on March 8, had ordered mediation to seek a solution into the dispute and appointed retired judge Kalifulla to head the panel.

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