The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High court rejected an appeal for an out-of-court-settlement of the Ayodhya. The Nirmohi Akhada had sought a 10 day period to attempt to reach an out-of-court settlement. The court rejected the Akhada's plea and also fined petitioner Ramesh Chandra Tripathi Rs 10 lakh. The court declared that the judgement on the Ayodhya title suit would be pronounced on September 24, as was originally declared.
Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, the petitioner who had made a last ditch attempt to settle the Ayodhya dispute out-of-court, welcomed the judgment of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court.
While seeking a deferment for a period of three months to enable both sides to explore possibilities of a negotiated settlement, the party also proposes to seek extension of three months for the high court judge Justice Dharam Veer Sharma, whose retirement on October 1 would otherwise necessitate the constitution of a fresh bench to hear the case.
Prashanth Chandra, advocate for Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, the person who filed the intervening application seeking an out-of-court-settlement in the Ayodhya title suit says that the last hope now is the apex court, and this is not an issue just between the two litigating parties, but a national issue.
"We need more people who do not have a direct interest in the Ayodhya title suit coming up to fight the case out in the Supreme Court to clear the misconception that my client has been set up by someone to defer the verdict," Prashanth Chandra, senior counsel, who represented Ramesh Chandra Tripathi at the High Court and the Supreme Court, told rediff.com.
The plea by Ramesh Chandra Tripathi for an out-of-court settlement in the Ayodhya case was mentioned in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, and the counsel for applicant, Prashanth Chandra, was told to approach the court registrar who will assign the matter to the appropriate bench.A bench of Justices Altmas Kabir and A K Patanik told the applicant that they could not hear the matter since it was a civil suit.
The Supreme Court will now take the final call on the question of postponing the long awaited verdict beyond its scheduled date of September 24. Seventy-three year old Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, who was one of the parties to the 59year old court battle, is all set to move the apex court on Tuesday against Friday's order by the two judges of the three-judge special bench of Allahabad High Court.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court may have rejected Ramesh Chandra Tripathi's plea for postponing the Ayodhya verdict and to explore possibilities of an out-of-court amicable settlement, but the 73-year-old man has still not lost hope and he is air-dashing to New Delhi, renewing his appeal before the highest court of the land.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday has refused to defer its verdict on the title suit of the disputed site at Ayodhya.