Ayodhya case: Justice Lalit recuses himself; new Bench to hear on Jan 29
Ayodhya land dispute case: Justice U U Lalit recuses from Ayodhya Bench as Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan points out that he appeared for Kalyan Singh in a related matter
 "Supreme Court")
A general view of the Supreme Court after the Ayodhya hearing was rescheduled to January 29. Photo: Aashish Aryan
Ayodhya case: The Supreme Court on Thursday deferred the Ayodhya title dispute case to January 29, saying the five-judge bench that was to hear the case will be reconstituted as Justice U U Lalit recused himself.
The apex court took the decision after senior counsel Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for one of the Muslim parties, told the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi that Justice Lalit in 1997 appeared for former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in one of the matters related to the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute.
Singh is currently the Rajasthan Governor.
Soon after, Justice Lalit conveyed to Chief Justice Gogoi and other members of the bench — Justice S A Bobde, Justice N V Ramana, Justice D Y Chandrchud — of his reluctance to continue on the bench and recused himself.
The court, thereafter, directed its registry to go through all the records relating to the Ayodhya case which are available with it and submit a report by January 29 as to how much time it would require for translating the documents and the case material which are in Persian, Arabic, Urdu and Gurmukhi languages.
However, when senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for one of the Hindu litigants, offered to assist the registry in the handling of the papers and their translations, Chief Justice Gogoi said that he will rely entirely on his own registry to do the job.
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Having directed the secretary general of the Supreme Court to submit the report in 15 days the court directed that the reconstituted bench will hold the hearing on January 29.
The Supreme Court had said that the bench will hear several petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement on the Ayodhya title dispute.
The Allahabad High Court had in 2010 trifurcated the disputed site, giving one portion each to Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and the original Muslim litigant.
Catch LIVE updates of the Ayodhya case hearing here
11:06 AM
Protests near Pragati Maidan metro station in front of one of the SC gates
Supporters of Ram Mandir raise slogans
10:58 AM
Supporters of Ram Mandir raise slogans
10:53 AM
Supreme Court fixes January 29 as the next date of hearing
10:52 AM
A new bench to be constituted
10:52 AM
Justice U U Lalit recuses from Ayodhya Bench as Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhavan points out that he appeared for Kalyan Singh in a related matter
10:51 AM
CJI Gogoi says that Justice Lalit expressed the desire to recuse from hearing the matter, as it would not seem appropriate for him to continue in the bench, although the merits of the case is unrelated to contempt case
10:48 AM
Hearing adjourned
10:47 AM
Justice U U Lalit recuses himself from Constitution bench after one of the petitioner points out he had appeared for the then UP CM Kalyan Singh as a lawyer in the case
Justice Lalit had appeared for Kalyan Singh in a criminal case related to Ayodhya issue
10:40 AM
Supreme Court says no hearing today, only date and schedule to be decided
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First Published: Jan 10 2019 | 8:47 AM IST