SC questions delay in filing deferment plea

The Supreme Court today questioned the plea for deferment of the verdict on Ayodhya title suit, saying the lawyers appearing in the case were in favour of the Allahabad High Court judgement being pronounced.     "Your are running against the time because you woke up late. That is after 50 years," one of the three judges of the bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said.

"The question is why you were quiet for all these days. You had to strike chord when the matter was in the High Court," Justice Aftab Alam said.

The observations came when senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi was buttressing the argument that the settlement could be arrived through negotiations.

During the proceedings, Rohatgi said mediation was not the part of the statute. Justice Alam said that the lawyers of all the contesting parties are at least in agreement on the issue of delivery of judgement by the Allahabad High Court.