The Shia Waqf Board on Tuesday said senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing the Sunni Waqf Board in the ongoing hearing of the long-standing Ayodhya dispute, wanted the matter to be heard only in July 2019, after the completion of the next Lok Sabha polls citing political ramifications.
"The Sunni Waqf Board wanted to delay the hearing in the case. They wanted the matter to be heard only in 2019. The good news is that the Supreme Court has taken the formula proposed by us on record," Shia Waqf Board Chairman Wasim Rizvi told ANI.
The apex court, rejecting the Sunni Waqf Board's plea to hear the Ayodhya dispute case after 2019 Lok Sabha elections, has deferred the hearing to February 8, 2018.
Meanwhile, Mahant Dharam Das, one of the stakeholders in the title suit, demanded the construction of Ram Temple as soon as possible.
The Supreme Court commenced the hearings in the Ayodhya dispute on Tuesday morning.
Sibal read out in the apex court the details of exhibits filed by the contesting defendants before the Allahabad High Court. He told the three-judge bench of the court that all the exhibits were not filed before this court.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta, representing the state of Uttar Pradesh rebutted the averments of Sibal. The ASG also told the Supreme Court that all the related documents and requisite translation copies were on record.
Kapil Sibal told the top court that whenever this matter is heard, there are serious repercussions outside the court and to preserve the decorum of law and order, and that he personally requests court to take this matter up on July 15, 2019, once all the pleadings are complete.
Petitioners are pleaded in the Supreme Court for reasonable time to translate, file and serve the copies of all the exhibits and relevant documents, which were filed before the Allahabad High Court bench at Lucknow.
The first hearing was set a day before the 25th anniversary of the demolition of medieval-era mosque, Babri Masjid.
According to reports, the top court was hearing a total of 13 appeals filed against the 2010 judgement of the Allahabad High Court in four civil suits.
The stakeholders in the case had moved the apex court after the Allahabad HC directed the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Lord Ram Lalla to settle for a three-way division of the disputed site.
The Babri Masjid was built by Mughal emperor Babur in Ayodhya in 1528.
The Hindus, however, claim that a Ram temple that originally stood there was demolished to construct the mosque. Citing this, Hindu zealots demolished the mosque on December 06, 1992, triggering communal riots in various parts of the country.
Meanwhile, today, a Delhi court will deliver its verdict in connection with the terrorist attack on the makeshift Ram Temple in Ayodhya in 2005.
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