LIVE UPDATES: Justice UU Lalit recuses himself from hearing Ayodhya land dispute case; matter to be now heard on Jan 29

The bench will be headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprise of Justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud

10/01/2019 10:59:44

Speaking in the court room, lawyer Rajeev Dhawan said that Justice UU Lalit appeared for Kalyan Singh in Aslam Bhurey case in 1994. He further said that he has no objection to him appearing for the case. Post this; Justice UU Lalit himself distanced himself from the case. This therefore pushed the next date of hearing the case to January 29.

10/01/2019 10:45:07

Advocate Rajeev Dhawan questions that court had earlier ordered a hearing by 3-judge bench, which has been changed with administrative order. "You should pass a judicial order".

10/01/2019 10:47:04

Justice UU Lalit recuses himself from hearing Ayodhya land dispute case. Now, the decision of deciding the date of regular hearing will take place some other day.

10/01/2019 10:41:18

The Chief Justice Of India Ranjan Gogoi says that the court is going to decide a date of regular hearing today

10/01/2019 10:34:42

5-judges reach SC courtroom for hearing. The court room is jam-packed with people ahead of the crucial hearing on Ayodhya case.

10/01/2019 10:31:41

All the parties arrive at Supreme Court for the hearing on Ayodhya Land dispute case. A 5-judge constitution bench is set to begin the hearing on the case shortly.

10/01/2019 10:01:45

As the apex court is set to hear the Ayodhya Land Dispute case today, the security has been beefed up outside the court premises.

10/01/2019 09:09:28

A 5-Judge constitution bench of Supreme Court is set to hear the land dispute case of Ayodhya today. The court is also likely to declare the last date of hearing today.

Background

New Delhi: A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the politically sensitive case of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land title dispute in Ayodhya. The bench will be headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and also comprise of Justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana, U U Lalit and D Y Chandrachud.

A three-judge bench of the top court had on September 27 last year, by 2:1 majority, refused to refer to a five-judge constitution bench for reconsideration of the observations in its 1994 judgement that a mosque was not integral to Islam. The matter had arisen during the hearing of the Ayodhya land dispute.

When the matter was last taken up on January 4, there was no indication that the case would be referred to a constitution bench as the apex court had simply said that further orders in the matter would be passed on January 10 by "the appropriate bench, as may be constituted".

The newly set up five-judge bench comprises not only the incumbent CJI but the four judges who are in line to be CJI in the future.

Justice Gogoi's successor would be Justice Bobde followed by Justices Ramana, Lalit and Chandrachud.

As many as 14 appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

The apex court on October 29 last year had fixed the matter in the first week of January before the "appropriate bench".

Later, an application was moved for according an urgent hearing by advancing the date, but the top court had refused the plea, saying it had already passed an order on October 29 relating to the hearing of the matter.

The plea for early hearing was moved by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM) which is one of the respondents in the appeal filed by legal heirs of M Siddiq, one of the original litigants in the case.

Various Hindutva organisations have been demanding an ordinance on early construction of Ram temple at the disputed site.

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested that any decision on an ordinance on Ram temple in Ayodhya can happen only after the completion of the judicial process.

Modi's comments had come amidst heightened demands by Hindutava organisations, including the RSS, for an ordinance for an early construction of the temple.

"Let the judicial process take its own course. Don't weigh it in political terms. Let the judicial process be over. After the judicial process is over, whatever be our responsibility as government, we are ready to make all efforts," the prime minister had said during an interview, broadcast by several TV channels.