The Supreme Court today set 18th October as a deadline for the conclusion of hearings in the Ram-Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid land dispute case. Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is heading the five-judge Constitution bench hearing the case on a day to day basis since the 6th August. The Court had yesterday asked the counsels for both the parties to the case to inform it about a tentative time schedule for concluding their arguments.
The Constitution bench said it has received a letter from former apex court judge F M I Kalifulla, who was heading the three-member mediation panel, conveying that some parties have written to him for the resumption of the mediation process. The apex court also said the parties can amicably resolve the matter through mediation if they want to.
But, the court told both the sides that it wanted to conclude day-to-day hearings by the 18th of next month so that the judges get almost four weeks’ time to write the judgment. The Court had taken note of the report of the three-member panel who went into the mediation person but could not find any final settlement.