Supreme Court may order mediation on Ayodhya issue

New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday said it may order mediation for the amicable resolution of the Ayodhya title issue as it defers passing of a formal order till March 5, the next date of hearing.

The five-judge constitutional bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, suggested mediation of the issue in the course of the hearing of a batch of cross petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict to divide the disputed site in three parts, giving one each to the Nirmohi Akhada, Ram Lalla and the original Muslim litigants.

The suggestion was not accepted by the lawyers appearing for the Hindu parties. 

However, those appearing for the Muslim parties accepted it noting that the mediation for the resolution of the dispute and regular hearing on the petition challenging 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement will go on concurrently.