Ayodhya land dispute: No hearing in SC on Monday

The hearing in the politically sensitive Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case could not take place in the Supreme Court on Monday due to some urgent engagement of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, an official source said.

According to the source, the five-judge Constitution bench could not assemble for hearing as CJI Gogoi had some urgent work.

The source clarified that all the five judges were in the apex court and there was some miscommunication that Justice S A Bobde was unavailable today.

The official said Justice Bobde was at work in his chamber throughout the day.

The matter is listed for hearing on Tuesday.

The Constitution bench, headed by Justice Gogoi, was scheduled to hear arguments of senior lawyer C S Vaidyanathan, representing deity 'Ram Lalla Virajman', on the eighth day of hearing.

Besides CJI and Justice Bobde, justices D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S A Nazeer are part of the bench which is hearing on day-to-day basis the appeal in the case.

On Friday, Vaidyanathan had told the court that a "massive" temple of Lord Ram, dating back to the second century BC (Before Christ), existed at the disputed site in Ayodhya before the construction of Babri Masjid.

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 disputed land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and 'Ram Lalla Virajman'.

Babri Masjid was demolished by right-wing activists on December 6, 1992 in Ayodhya, leading to the protracted legal battle.