Paving the way for the Allahabad High Court to deliver its judgement in the 60-year-old Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed the plea for deferment of the verdict.
“Having considered in detail the arguments of the parties, we are of the view that the SLP has to be dismissed.
Accordingly, the SLP stands dismissed,” said the apex court’s 3-judge bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia in a brief order.
The court’s order came after two hours of arguments on a plea for the deferment of the judgement by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court filed by a retired bureaucrat Ramesh Chandra Tripathi seeking time for working out an out-of-court settlement.
However, it did not specify any reason for its decision nor fix any date for the judgement to be delivered by the Allahabad High Court.
With this, the way has been paved for the High Court to give its judgement shortly in view of the fact that one of the judges of the three-member bench, Justice D.V. Sharma, is to demit office on October one.
Earlier, Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati said that uncertainty should not be allowed to continue.
Appearing before the bench that included Justices Aftab Alam and K.S. Radhakrishnan, he said the most preferred solution to the problem would be settlement but it has not taken place and the uncertainty which is prevailing should not be allowed to continue.
The three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice gave an unanimous order.
During the arguments, the Attorney General said “Settlement, if any possible, we welcome it but we do not want any uncertainty.”
Since 1999, the stand of the Union Government has been for settlement which has not taken place, he said.
“We would like a resolution of the matter in one way or the other. We cannot keep the law and order machinery in sustained animation,” Vahanvati said.
The AG said, “My position is very clear. I am of the view for implementation of the decision of the suit. This is what we have to do as per the mandate of 1994“.
Vahanvati also referred to the verdict of the Constitutional bench on the land acquisition at the disputed site in Ayodhya.
He refuted the allegations of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing for Tripathi, that the Centre sat meekly and only stood as a receiver of the disputed land.
Vahanvati said the Government was committed to maintain the rule of law and was under obligation of the undertaking given by it to the apex court on September 14, 1994 that it will make attempts to resolve the issue through continuous negotiations.
The Attorney General also countered the allegations of Rohatgi that it was not “pro-active” in attempting to resolve the dispute through settlement and process of negotiation.
He said government believed in respecting the rule of law. He also countered the argument that the tenure of one of the retiring judges could be extended as the Centre has no power in this regard, which is vested with the Chief Justice of the High Court and only to a certain extent recommendations can be made by the apex court collegium.
Home Minister takes stock of security
Home Minister P. Chidambaram took stock of the security situation in the country and directed all concerned to ensure peace after the Supreme Court dismissed the plea for deferment of verdict on Ayodhya case.
Chidambaram reviewed the security measures in the wake of the apex court paving the way for the Allahabad High Court to deliver its judgement in the 60-year-old Ramjanambhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit.
The Home Minister also visited his Ministry’s Control Room and Integrated Operations Centre and reviewed its functioning.
The meeting was attended by top Home Ministry officials and chief of Intelligence agencies.
The Home Ministry has identified 32 sensitive locations across the country -- four of them in Uttar Pradesh -- where there is a potential to “evoke sharp reactions” following the verdict and asked states to be fully alert.
The Centre is keeping ready paramilitary forces at some strategic locations, closer to airports, for immediate deployment in the places of trouble anywhere in the country.
The Home Ministry has already prepared a contingency plan to deal with any situation arising out of the Allahabad High Court judgement.
At a separate meeting to review the Commonwealth Games security, which was also attended by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar besides others, Chidambaram took stock of the steps being taken to ensure foolproof measures in the Games venues, the Games village as well as the national capital.
source: THE HINDU
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