Judgment could be as significant as Keshavananda Bharti case verdict

NEW DELHI: The 70-year-old litigation by Hindu and Muslim parties for the ownership of the 2.77 acre disputed Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land in Ayodhya , which ranks among the most important cases in the history of India, inched closer to finality on Wednesday, with the Supreme Court confirming that its verdict would be pronounced on or before November 17, the day CJI Ranjan Gogoi retires.After counsel for Hindu and Muslim parties — K Parasaran, C S Vaidyanathan and Rajeev Dhavan — gave a rough estimate of the time they would need to finish arguments, the five-judge constitution bench of CJI Gogoi and Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer held a brief consultation and said, “We hope to conclude the hearing by October 18, which will give us four weeks to write the judgment.”The bench also said if extra days for hearing were required, it would consider sitting on Saturdays. This gives the parties 15 more hearing days to complete arguments as the court will remain closed on October 2 for Gandhi Jayanti and six days, beginning October 7, for Dussehra holidays.Muslim parties said they would complete arguments by October 27, while Hindu parties said they would need two or three more days, with Muslim parties giving concluding arguments for a day or two.The bench also asked parties to suggest what kind of relief they expected on the verdict given by the Allahabad high court which apportioned the disputed land equally among the deity, Sunni Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara . “Argue on how the Supreme Court can mould the relief,” it said.Anxiety has been building up on both sides as the hearing continued without an end in sight. If the hearing didn’t finish and the judges didn’t get enough time to write their opinions prior to pronouncement of judgments, and CJI Gogoi had retired, then the bench would have to be reconstituted for fresh hearings.With the SC clearing the air, the judgment on the most keenly contested case between two dominant communities — Hindus and Muslims — over the place of worship will be delivered in less than two months. Experts put the impending verdict on a scale equal to the 1973 judgment of a 13-judge constitution bench in the Keshavananda Bharti case, in which it delineated Constitution’s basic structure doctrine and made it inviolable.In 1989, the Allahabad HC had withdrawn to itself the title suits pending before Faizabad district court in the Ayodhya matter. The first suit was filed by Gopal Singh Visharad in 1950 who is now represented by his legal heir Rajendra Singh, while the second suit was filed by another Hindu devotee which was later withdrawn. The third suit was filed by Nirmohi Akhara in 1959, and fourth one, by Sunni Waqf Board, two years later. The last one was by the deity through next friend Devki Nandan Agarwal in 1989.During the pendency of suits in the high court, the Babri Masjid was demolished by kar sevaks on December 6, 1992.The HC had heard arguments from parties and examined evidence for nearly 100 days before delivering its verdict on September 30, 2010.The three-judge HC bench of Justices S U Khan, Sudhir Agrawal and D V Sharma, by a 2 to 1 majority, had divided the Ayodhya land into three equal parts. It allotted the part under the central dome of the demolished mosque to Ram Lalla (the deity) while Nirmohi Akhara got title over Ram Chabutra, Sita Rasoi and Bhandara areas in the outer courtyard .The rest was allotted to Sunni Waqf Board. As the total disputed area is 1,480 square yards, the three parties got 493.3 square yards each.Though both Hindu and Muslim sides had promptly filed appeals against the HC verdict in the SC seeking sole right over the entire disputed land, the appeals were taken up for day-to-day hearing only on August 6.