SC to hear Ayodhya title suit from Aug 11

The Supreme Court is set to begin hearing from August 11 on a batch of petitions relating to the Ram Temple-Babri Masjid land dispute at Ayodhya.

A three-judge bench presided over by Justice Dipak Misra, who is to take charge as the next Chief Justice of India on August 27, would consider separate appeals in the matter.

The Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and 'Ram Lalla' are amongst the main parties in the suit.

The matter also included two petitions filed by Mohammad Hashim and Deoki Nandan Agarwala, both now dead, with regard to acquisition of the portion of land by the central government. On a plea made by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who is one of the intervenors, the apex court had on July 21 indicated that it would consider an early listing of the matter.

“We are going to list the main matter soon. We will take a decision on it,” the court had said. In the advance list released by the apex court’s registry, the matter is now shown as listed before a bench of Justices Misra, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer.