SC refers Ayodhya land dispute for mediation
New Delhi, Mar 8: The Supreme Court Friday referred the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case for mediation and appointed former apex court judge Justice (retd) F M I Kalifulla as chairperson of the panel of mediators.
A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the other members of the panel will be spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu.
The bench directed that the mediation will be held at Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh and the process should start within a week from Friday.
The bench also comprising justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer said the panel of mediators will file a progress report of the mediator proceedings within four weeks and the process should be completed within eight weeks.
The apex court said that "utmost confidentiality" should be maintained to ensure success of mediation and neither print nor electronic media should report the proceedings.
The bench also directed that panel of mediators can co-opt more members in the team and in case of any difficulty the chairman will inform the apex court registry about it.
Fourteen appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgment, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
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Palakkad: Hotel owners hold protest march against gas price hike
Palakkad (Kerala) (PTI): Hotel and restaurant owners on Saturday held a protest march in Palakkad against the recent nearly Rs 1,000 hike in commercial gas cylinder prices.
The protesters marched through the town holding placards and images of gas cylinders. They also carried two cylinders on a stretcher with a wreath placed on top, according to visuals aired on television channels.
The hotel and restaurant owners contended that it would be difficult for them to sustain their businesses in view of the high cost of commercial gas cylinders.
They said that many of them had been forced to shut their establishments earlier due to the scarcity of commercial gas cylinders, and that most had only recently reopened.
“But the sudden increase in commercial gas cylinder prices has affected our operations,” the protesters said.
Similar concerns were raised by restaurant owners and workers from other parts of the state in response to queries from reporters.
The Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association had on Friday announced a statewide protest strike on May 6 against the Rs 993 hike in commercial LPG cylinder prices.
KHRA state president G Jayapal said that all hotels and restaurants across Kerala would remain shut on that day in protest against what he termed an “unfair” increase in LPG prices.
He added that over the past five months, the price of a single cylinder had increased by a total of Rs 1,498.
On May 6, establishments will remain closed, and protest marches and dharnas will be held in front of district headquarters and oil company offices, he said.
