Ayodhya: SC to pass order on Mar 5 on whether to refer matter to court-appointed mediator
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Tuesday suggested mediation in the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case, saying it was considering the possibility of "healing relations".
The court said it will pass an order on March 5 on whether to refer it to a court-appointed mediator.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that even if one per cent chance of mediation exists in the politically sensitive land dispute matter, it should be done.
The bench also comprising Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer asked the registry to provide translated copies of all documents within six weeks and said the main matter would be taken up for hearing after eight weeks.
It also directed the parties to examine translated copies and raise objections, if any, within eight weeks.
The apex court said it wanted to explore the possibility of mediation to utilise the period of eight weeks after which the matter would be heard.
While some Muslim parties said they were agreeable to the apex court suggestion for a court-appointed mediator to solve the dispute, some Hindu parties including Ram Lalla Virajmaan raised objections saying earlier also the process of mediation has failed several times.
The bench asked the parties if they can explore the possibility of mediation to resolve the land dispute and said, "Even if there is 1 per cent chance, mediation should be done."
"Do you seriously think that the entire dispute for so many years is for property? We can only decide property rights but we are considering the possibility of "healing relations"," the bench said.
To this, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for a Muslim party referred to Allahabad High Court verdict and said that mediation was tried earlier and was unsuccessful.
Senior advocate C S Vaidyanathan, representing Ram Lalla, said it was averse to mediation and that "We do not want another round of mediation".
At the outset, the apex court said it can proceed with hearing if there is consensus with regard to translation of documents.
"If tranations of documents are now acceptable to all, parties cannot contest translations once proceedings begin," the bench said.
It referred to copies of report filed by the Secretary General of the apex court on the status of documents and sealed records of the case. The CJI asked lawyers of both sides to peruse the report.
Dhavan said he is yet to examine translation of documents and will have to check the veracity of translated documents.
To this, the apex court asked the parties to show the order by which they had agreed to translated documents filed by Uttar Pradesh government.
Vaidyanathan said the translations were verified and accepted by all parties in December 2017.
He said that an order was passed to examine Uttar Pradesh government's translations and now two years later they raise objections to it.
When the CJI asked the Muslim parties as to how much time they need to examine the translations, Dhavan replied "8-12 weeks".
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.
The five-judge bench was re-constituted on January 25 as Justice U U Lalit, who was a member of the earlier bench, had recused himself from hearing the matter.
When the new bench was constituted, Justice N V Ramana was excluded from the re-constituted bench.
Justices Bhushan and Nazeer, who were included in the newly constituted bench, were part of an earlier bench headed by then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra (now retired) which had heard the Ayodhya land dispute matter.
The three-judge bench had on September 27, 2018 refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench the issue related to reconsideration of the observation in the apex court's 1994 judgment that a mosque was not integral to Islam.
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Indian mobile hospital treats over 2,200 cyclone-hit people as New Delhi ramps up relief efforts in
Colombo (PTI): A mobile hospital set up by India in Sri Lanka has provided medical care to over 2,200 people affected by Cyclone Ditwah, as New Delhi ramped up its assistance to the flood-ravaged island nation with engineering support and delivery of fresh relief consignments, the Indian mission here said on Sunday.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse triggered by the cyclone, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country's disaster-response capacity.
At least 627 people have been killed and 190 remain missing as of Sunday noon due to catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.
Sharing a social media post by the Ministry of External Affairs on its X handle, the Indian High Commission said a field hospital set up by India in Mahiyanganaya near Kandy has provided medical care to more than 2,200 people affected by the cyclone since December 5.
The hospital has also performed 67 minor procedures and three surgeries, it said. The field hospital was airlifted to Sri Lanka by an IAF C-17 aircraft along with a 78-member Indian medical team on Tuesday.
In another post, the mission said Indian Army engineers, working with Sri Lanka Army Engineers and the Road Development Authority, in Kilinochchi have begun removing a damaged bridge on the Paranthan–Karachchi–Mullaitivu (A35) road, a key route disrupted by the cyclone.
"This joint effort marks another step toward restoring vital connectivity for affected communities," it said.
India has additionally sent nearly 1,000 tonnes of food items and clothing contributed by the people of Tamil Nadu. Of these, about 300 tonnes reached Colombo on Sunday morning aboard three Indian Naval ships.
High Commissioner Santosh Jha handed over the supplies to Sri Lankan Minister for Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe.
India, on November 28, launched 'Operation Sagar Bandhu', a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, to aid Sri Lanka in its recovery from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Since the launch of the operation, India has provided about 58 tonnes of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, essential cloths, water purification kits and about 4.5 tonnes of medicines and surgical equipment, the Indian mission said in a press release on Sunday.
Another 60 tonnes of equipment, including generators, inflatable rescue boats, Outboard Motors, and excavators, have also been brought to Sri Lanka, it said, adding that 185 tonnes of Bailey Bridge units were airlifted to restore critical connectivity along with 44 engineers.
Two columns of the National Disaster Response Force, comprising 80 experts and K9 units with specially trained dogs, assisted with immediate rescue and relief efforts in Sri Lanka.
Besides the field hospital in Mahiyanganaya, medical centres have also been set up in the badly hit Ja-Ela region and in Negombo. INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri, and INS Sukanya provided immediate rescue and relief assistance to Sri Lanka.
Apart from the two Chetak helicopters deployed from INS Vikrant, two heavy-lift, MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force are actively involved in evacuations and airlifting relief material, the release said.
At the request of the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, a virtual meeting was organised between DMC and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s National Remote Sensing Centre on Saturday.
Since the onset of the disaster, ISRO has been providing maps to assist DMC in its rescue efforts, the release said.
