Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia has decided to head the three-judge bench that will on September 28 hear the petition for deferring the Allahabad high court judgment in the Ayodhya title suit and giving the parties a last chance for a negotiated settlement.
The other two members of the larger bench constituted by the CJI are Justices Aftab Alam and K.S. Radhakrishnan.
The CJI took the step after sharp differences emerged between two judges — R.V. Raveendran and H.L. Gokhale — of a division bench on September 23 on the admission of the petition by Ramesh Chandra Tripathi for deferring the verdict.
Considering the importance of the case, the petition has been given top priority by the CJI and placed at No. 1 in the roster of cases drawn for September 28 before his bench.
The case will be taken up at 10.30 am when the bench assembles for the crucial hearing, which will decide the fate of the high court verdict, even as the main contesting parties — Hindu religious leaders and the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and some Muslim citizens — want the judgment delivered without further delay.
All the 28 parties to the dispute had been asked to appear before the court on September 28 to know their views.
Besides, Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati has also been asked to assist the court and explain the Centre’s views.
The immediate concern of the CJI’s bench now would be to deal with the issue of the retirement of Justice D.V. Sharma, one of the members of the three-judge bench of the high court which has reserved its verdict on the suit.
Justice Sharma will superannuate on October 1. His retirement would bring to naught the entire exercise and might require a fresh hearing if a new judge is included in the bench in his place.
According to legal experts, including former Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee, this problem has to be tackled first by the apex court as well as the Central government, and the best course is to give Justice Sharma an ad hoc appointment after October 1 till the delivery of the verdict, if it is deferred for some time by the apex court.