Ayodhya land dispute case: Ayodhya panel gets extension till August 15

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday noted that there is some progress in the mediation process for an out of court settlement and granted the mediation panel headed by Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla (retired) time till August 15 to complete the negotiations.

Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, heading the five-judge Bench told counsel for parties, “The mediation is on and the chairperson seeks an extension until August 15 to arrive at an amicable and complete solution which we are inclined to grant. But we would like for the progress (between the parties) to remain confidential for now.”

When senior counsel Rajeev Dhawan, for the Sunni Waqf Board, expressed utmost support towards all attempts of mediation, senior advocate C. S. Vaidyanathan for Ram Lalla insisted that the committee be granted time only until the end of June.

The CJI said, “When they are seeking time till August, how can we do that? We don’'t want to short-circuit the process" and extended the time till August 15 for completing the process of mediation.

On March 8 the Constitution Bench, which included Justices S.A. Bobde, D.Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer appointed a panel that included spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and mediation expert advocate Sriram Panchu to explore the possibility of arriving at a permanent and lasting solution.