SC defers verdict in Ayodhya title suit

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has stayed the verdict due to be delivered by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court in the matter related to the Ayodhya temple/ Babri Masjid title suit till the 28th of September when it will hear various interested parties, including the government, about the possibility of an amicable settlement arrived out-of-court.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court was due to deliver its verdict tomorrow at 3.30 pm and the entire country was bracing for the verdict as the issue has communal overtones and has been responsible for sparking country-wide riots in the past.

The contentious matter has been lingering in courts ever since 1950, when the suit was first filed.

A two-member bench of the apex court was split on the issue of deferring the matter on a plea made by a retired bureaucrat, Ram Chandra Tripathi, seeking that the courts defer the judgement on the ground that national security may be impacted as a consequence of the judgement. The petitioner also cited the forthcoming Commonwealth Games as another reason for deferment of the verdict.

While one of the honourable judges, HL Gokhale, felt that notice ought to be issued in the matter seeking all parties to provide their views on an out-of-court settlement, the other justice, RV Raveendran, who was also heading the bench, did not concur but in keeping with the traditions of the court decided to issue notices to all parties keeping the dissent of the other judge in mind.

A piquant situation has arisen in that one of the three judges of the Lucknow bench, justice Dharam Veer Sharma, is due to retire on the 30th September and should the matter be deferred any further, then the suit will have to be heard all over again as a new judge assumes charge in his place.