5-judge bench to dine at Taj Mansingh after historic Ayodhya verdict

After delivering a historic judgment in the seven-decade long Ayodhya dispute, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is taking CJI-designate S A Bobde and Justices D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer for a dinner at Taj Mansingh on Saturday. Sources report that the judges wish to relax after the strenuous work involving Ayodhya land dispute judgment fructified today with a judgment. The 5-judge constitutional bench gave a 1045-page long judgment in the Ayodhya dispute.

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What was the judgement?

Pronouncing the landmark judgment in the Ayodhya dispute case, the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous judgment in the title suit of the disputed area awarding it to the Hindu parties for the construction of a temple. It also directed the Centre to come up with a scheme within three months to set up a trust which will hand over the outer courtyard and inner courtyard of the site for construction of a temple. Apart from this, the SC stated that an alternate land of 5 acres is to be allotted to Muslims for the liberty of constructing a mosque, either by the central govt or the State govt, in a suitable and prominent place in Ayodhya. CJI Ranjan Gogoi, while delivering the unanimous judgment, dismissed the claims of the Sunni Central Waqf Board and the Nirmohi Akhara. He also termed that the three-way division of the disputed land by the Allahabad HC in its 2010 verdict is wrong.

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Ayodhya case in SC

The five-judge bench was constituted on January 25, 2019, to hear the long-contested Ayodhya dispute. As the case progressed after the Centre handed over disputed Ayodhya site to original owners, the bench created a 3-member mediation panel. On August 2, a day after the mediation panel submitted the report of mediation to the SC in a sealed cover, the SC stated that the mediation had failed and began day-to-day hearings - which ran for 40 days, along with a parallel mediation process continuing. The SC announced that it would wrap up the hearing on October 17 and announce its judgment by November 17. Finally, on October 16, the Supreme Court concluded its hearing, reserved its order and the mediation panel submitting its settlement report before the Supreme Court after the Sunni Waqf board surrendered its claim over the disputed land in Ayodhya.

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