Babri Masjid case: SC asks parties to conclude arguments by October 18

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the parties involved in the Babri Masjid dispute case to conclude their arguments by October 18.

"Let us all make a joint effort to conclude the arguments by October 18. If necessary, court may hear the case for an extra hour on Saturdays," said Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

Conclusion of hearings in the case by October 18 will mean the five-judge Constitution bench hearing the case will have a month to write the judgment and pronounce it before November 17, the retirement day of CJI Gogoi.

The bench also termed a 1991 report by historians R.S. Sharma, M. Athar Ali, D.N. Jha and Suraj Bhan cited by the Muslim parties to support their claim to the temple site "at highest an opinion", and said "evidentiary value cannot be attached to it".

Appearing for the Muslim parties, on the 26th day of the hearing, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan cited the historians' report to argue that Babri Masjid was not the birthplace of Lord Ram.

However, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud called the methodology adopted for the report as "perfunctory" and said: "At highest, this is an opinion, just an opinion."

He said the report did not include findings of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) report. "Had the historians accessed the ASI report, their report would have been entitled to higher evidentiary value," he said.

Referring to a letter written by the Justice F.M. Kalifulla-led three-member mediation panel on Tuesday that sought the court's nod to resume talks in the case, the Chief Justice said the parties were free to resort to mediation through the court-appointed panel if they wished to.

The court made it clear that the daily hearings in the case will go on and the proceedings will continue to remain confidential.

The Allahabad High Court in its 2010 judgement partitioned the disputed land into three equal parts for -- the deity Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and Sunni Waqf Board.