New Delhi, August 11
The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Yogi Adityanath Government to get the 90,000-page oral evidence in the Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid case translated in 10 weeks and fixed December 5 to hear cross-appeals in the matter. If everything goes as per the schedule fixed by the top court, the next hearing would be on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992.
A three-judge Bench headed Justice Dipak Misra – who is all set to take over as the next Chief Justice of India after the present incumbent Justice JS Khehar demits office on August 27 – asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to hand over the translated documents in hard bound form to the counsel representing various parties.
The Uttar Pradesh Government agreed to take up the translation work after the Bench told senior counsel Tushar Mehta and the state's Advocate-General Raghavendra Pratap Singh that it has to be done to expedite the hearing.
The Bench – which also included Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice S Abdul Nazeer – made it clear that it wanted to proceed with the matter as it had pending for seven years.
Almost seven years after the Allahabad High Court's September 30, 2010, order dividing the 2.7-acre disputed land at the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site equally between Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and Sunni Wakf Board, the Supreme Court on Friday took up cross-appeals filed by various parties and tried to fix the modalities of the hearing.
The Bench said other documents in the form of 533 exhibits cited in the High Court's verdict will have to be translated by the parties which choose to rely on them.
Counsel representing the Sunni Central Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara wanted the hearing to commence in January 2018 contending they needed more time to prepare their respective case.
“What's the hurry? Service (of notice) is not complete. Translation of documents from seven languages – Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Pali, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi – has to be done…”, senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan and Kapil Sibal said on behalf of the Sunni Central Waqf Board said. They were supported by Nirmohi Akhara represented by senior counsel Sushi Kumar Jain.
On the other hand, advocates representing Ram Lalla – the deity – Vaidyanathan and Shyam Divan said they were ready to start arguing the case on November 14, as originally proposed by the top court.
There were near acrimonious scenes during the hearing as several advocates attempted to speak simultaneously and commented on each other.
One such scene was created when Advocate MC Dhingra Rose to speak on behalf of the Shia Central Waqf Board which has sought to replace the Sunni Central Waqf Board as a party to the case. The Shia Board has claimed the demolished mosque was a Shia Waqf as Mir Baqi who got conwas a Shia Muslim. It also supported construction of a Ram Temple at the disputed site where a makeshift temple exits at present.
A similar scene occurred when Vaidyanathan objected to Nirmohi Akhara seeking too much time to commence arguments.
Hindus believe that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya thousands of years ago. During Mughal emperor Babar's rule, a mosque was constructed at the place in 1528 after destroying the temples existing there.
The RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and BJP have been running a campaign for construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
On December 6, 1992, kar sevaks of right-wing Hindu organisations demolished the disputed structure. Many BJP leaders, including LK Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi, are facing a criminal case in connection with the demolition.
But the civil dispute over 2.7 acres is a separate one that has been on since 1961 when the Sunni Wakf Board took the matter to court.
Earlier, CJI Khehar had offered to play a mediator to solve the contentious issue if parties agreed to it, saying a negotiated settlement of the Ayodhya dispute was a better option. But the parties to the dispute could not agree to the suggestion.
