New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to an early hearing in the Ayodhya dispute on a petition filed on behalf of the majority community, which underscored that "nothing much" has happened in the mediation panel it set up for an amicable solution. Gopal Singh Visharad, one of the plaintiffs in the original civil suit, has pleaded for an early listing of the case for hearing the petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court's verdict, dividing the disputed site among the three parties.
"We would see and consider to hear your petition," said a Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose on submissions by senior advocate P S Narasimha on behalf of Visharad for early listing of a batch of appeals pending before the court. The Bench, however, fixed no date and so it is to be seen whether or not the court will wait until August 15, the extended deadline given to a 3-member mediation panel, headed by former Supreme Court judge FMI Kalifulla, to complete the mediation proceedings.A constitution bench of five judges headed by the Chief Justice of India had constituted the mediation panel on March 8 and extended its term on May 10. Two other members of the panel are spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu, who is known to be a mediation expert.
