New Delhi :
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court (SC) is scheduled to hold an in-chamber hearing on Thursday (December 12) to decide whether to hear review petitions challenging the top court's verdict in Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid case in open court or not.
The SC bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde and comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan, SA Nazeer and Sanjeev Khanna will startthe in-chamber proceedings at 1.40 PM. Notably, Justice Khanna is the onlyjudge who was not a part of the five-judge Constitution bench that haddelivered the verdict in this case on November 9 paving way for theconstruction of Ram temple at the site. Khanna replaces the former ChiefJustice of India Ranjan Gogoi.
If the apex court decides to go for an open court hearing,then the top court will hear the arguments of all parties heard again, and ifthe bench decides against it, the reconsideration petitions will be dismissed.
So far, 18 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Courtchallenging its historic decision and on Monday (December 10) a group of 40social workers also filed the review plea challenging the SC verdict in theAyodhya case. Among the social workers are Harsh Mander, Nandini Sundar, andPravat Pattnaik.
"We have filed the reconsideration petitions seeking amodification of the November 9 verdict. The petition has demanded that the topcourt should reconsider its November 9 verdict with respect to the Ayodhyaverdict," Mander was earlier quoted by ANI.
On November 9, the SC had delivered its verdict in Ayodhyacase saying that the disputed 2.27 acres of land site in Ayodhya belongs toHindu party and ruled that Sunni Waqf Board will get 5-acres of land at analternative site for building a mosque. The apex court clarified that eitherthe Central government can give the five-acre land to the Sunni Waqf Board fromthe nearly 68 acres of land which it had acquired in 1993 under the Acquisitionof Certain Area at Ayodhya Act or the state government could hand over thepiece of land at a "suitable prominent place in Ayodhya".