india

Updated: Aug 07, 2019 14:19 IST

On the second day of the day-to-day hearing in Ayodhya land case on Wednesday, a litigant Nirmohi Akhara told the Supreme Court that it had no proof of the ownership of the Ramjanmabhoomi.

“Do you have oral or documentary proof, revenue records of the possession of Ramjanmabhoomi before attachment,” the top court asked the Akhara counsel during the hearing.

“A dacoity happened in 1982 and we lost records,” the Akhara replied to the five-judge bench’s query, reports ANI.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, started daily hearing of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case from August 6.

This followed the failure of the mediation panel, set up by the top court, to steer a compromise between the litigant parties

The three-member mediation panel looking into the dispute had last week informed the court that the various parties involved in it could not come to an agreement, drawing the curtains on almost four-and-a-half month-long negotiations between Hindu and Muslim litigants.

Taking cognizance of the report, the bench ordered: “We have received the report submitted by Justice (Retd.) FMI Kalifulla, the Chairman of the Mediation Committee. We have perused the same. The mediation proceedings have not resulted in any final settlement. We, therefore, have to proceed with the hearing of the cases/appeals, which will commenceon and from 6.8.2019 (Tuesday). The hearing will be on day to-day basis until the arguments are concluded.”

The title suit in the matter is pending before the Supreme Court since 2010, after the two sides approached it against the Allahabad high court’s verdict dividing the disputed land into three equal portions – 1/3rd each for the Hindus, Muslims and the Nirmohi Akhara. From August 6, the court began hearing on 14 appeals — including the suits filed by the Ram Lalla Virajman, Nirmohi Akhara and Sunni Wakf board- and four other petitions.