Amid much controversy and debate, the Supreme Court had appointed a mediation panel to take a decision on the Ayodhya title suit on March 8, 2019.
The panel comprises of retired Apex court judge Justice Fakkir Mohamed Ibrahim Kalifulla, humanitarian & spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior lawyer Sriram Panchu as members.
The Supreme Court had referred the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case for court-appointed and monitored mediation and expressed the view that the proceedings should be conducted with utmost confidentiality.
The three-member mediation panel meets for the first time today, March 13, 2019.
Earlier, the Muslim Rashtriya Manch and the Hindu Maha Sabha had expressed their support for the construction of Ram Temple by resolving the issues through talks.
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Syed Yaser Jilani of Muslim Rashtriya Manch told ANI that, “we welcome this decision by the Supreme Court. I believe that through this meet will give a push to the new start for the construction of Ram Temple. If there will be a decision taken by the mediators soon then I feel it will be positive for the country and the people.”
Similarly, Swami Chakrapani of the Hindu Maha Sabha said, “This country belongs to all of us. Through talks, we can resolve big-big issues. The Supreme Court wants both the parties to win. It does not want anybody to lose. Even I have received a letter to be a part of this. I will definitely go there. Even after the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya we all have to stay in this country. We don’t want to construct the temple through violence. We want to make it through the support of everybody. We believe that through mediation a decision will surely be taken on this matter.”
The five-judge Constitution bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, had on March 8 made it clear that an attempt to settle the dispute through mediation should be made. This was keeping in mind the nature of the dispute.
The bench, then, constituted a three-member committee which would be chaired by retired Aprex Court judge Justice Kalifulla.
The five-judge bench also comprised Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer. The mediation proceedings will be held in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh and the state government will provide the mediators all the facilities. Media will be kept out of the proceedings too.