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Ayodhya cases to be heard daily: High court

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court decided on Tuesday to set up a commission to hear the witnesses in the cases relating to the Ayodhya dispute on a day-to-day basis.

The court said that the hearings would not stop even if there were shortage of judges.

In cases where the witnesses are unable to come before the court, the commission would go to them to record their statements, it said.

While giving the verdict, the three-judge bench comprising Justice Sudhir Narain, Justice Rafat Alam and Justice Bhanwar Singh observed that a similar order had already been passed by the high court on July 12, 2001.

"We therefore reiterate that this case must be hear on a daily basis," the judges said.

The court gave its ruling on an application for day-to-hearing moved by the central government earlier this month.

Additional Solicitor General R N Trivedi, who had argued that the earlier court order had made no difference to the sluggish progress in the case, moved the application.

However, there is only one marked difference between the July 12 order and this one. While one special commissioner had been appointed in pursuance of the previous court order, the present judgment made it explicit that more commissioners could be appointed to expedite the process of recording evidence.

"The court would appoint more commissioners as and when necessary and these would be authorised to record evidence whenever the bench was not available," the judges said.

The judges, however, did not elaborate upon the number of commissioners to be appointed for the day-to-day hearing or the time of their appointment.

At present, there are two such commissioners involved in recording the statements of the witnesses in the case.

In July 12, 2001, the court had observed that it had no objection to the day-to-day hearing, but it would not be feasible for a single-judge bench to record such a huge number of evidences.

Both the Sunni Central Waqf Board and Nirmohi Akhara, the two main parties involved in the Ayodhya title suits, have welcomed the decision of the court.

Sunni Central Waqf Board counsel and convenor of All-India Babri Masjid Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani said that the court had disposed off the demand of the Board to make the central government as a party in the case.

While welcoming the decision of upholding the ruling for day-to-day hearing in the case, he assured the court of full co-operation in the case.

Counsel for Nirmohi Akhara, Vireshwar Trivedi, also lauded the court's ruling.

He said that the ruling was nothing, but a repeat of the July 12, 2001 observation.

Earlier, Jilani, had said that they (Sunni Central Waqf Board) have no reservations about day-to-day hearings on the issue.

"If day-to-day hearings are followed seriously then it will take about a year and a half to hear all the witnesses and after that another three to four months to wrap up the case," Jilani had said.

On Tuesday, appearing on behalf of the Sunni Central Waqf Board, senior Supreme Court advocate, Siddharth Shankar Ray, had said that in principle, the Board was not against an early decision on the title suits.

But, he had added that the application moved by the central government for a day-to-day hearing was not maintainable since the Union of India was not a party to the suits.

Ray had also pointed out that the Sunni Board had moved an application in 1995 for impleading the Union of India in the matter, but that application was opposed 'tooth-and-nail' by the central government.

Ultimately, the high court had rejected the application for impleadment of the central government on May 25, 1995, he said.

"Such an application cannot be moved by the central government, unless the Union of India became a party in the original suit or suits," Ray had argued.

The Ayodhya Issue: Complete Coverage

With inputs from Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

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