Supreme Court defers hearing on Ayodhya plea
By IANSWednesday, September 22, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Supreme Court Wednesday deferred the hearing on a petition seeking to restrain the Allahabad High Court from pronouncing its verdict Sep 24 on a title suit linked to Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute in Ayodhya.
An apex court bench of Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice A.K. Patnaik said that it was not in its “determination” (roster) to hear the mentioning matter arising out of a civil suit.
The court said that the court’s registry has been asked to post the matter before an appropriate bench. The petition may now come up for hearing Thursday.
Senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi, who appeared for petitioner and retired bureaucrat Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, told the court that under the convention when the chief justice of India is presiding over the constitution bench hearing constitutional matter then the second senior-most bench could hear all matters of urgency.
Earlier in the morning when petitioner Tripathi’s counsel Sunil K. Jain sought to mention the matter, the court asked him to do so at 2 p.m.
Tripathi has challenged the order of the Lucknow bench of the high court rejecting his plea for the deferment of the pronouncement of the verdict, scheduled for Friday, so that there could be some mediation for an amicable settlement of the dispute.
The high court also imposed a cost of Rs.50,000 on Tripathi.
Tripathi’s petition was turned down by the three-judge special bench of the high court last week. While two judges S.U. Khan and Sudhir Agrawal rejected the application, the third judge, Dharam Veer Sharma, allowed the plea, following which Tripathi chose to move the apex court.
