A three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra will hear a batch of petitions challenging the Allahabad High Court verdict in the Ayodhya land dispute case from today. The bench, whose other members are justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer, would adjudicate the dispute over ownership of the Ram temple—Babri masjid land. A Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had in 2010, by a 2:1 majority, said the disputed 2.77 acres be partitioned equally among three parties — the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

NDA nominee M Venakaiah Naidu will take oath as India's Vice-President today. He was elected Vice President after receiving an overwhelming two-third votes against opposition candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi. Naidu will be the 13th person to hold the second highest constitutional post.

The inter-ministerial group (IMG) on telecom issues is likely to meet today to discuss measures to ease the financial stress in the sector. The IMG is considering giving telecom companies more time to pay for the spectrum they bought, as part of efforts to bring relief to the sector that is reeling under a Rs 4.6 lakh crore debt burden.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of all Opposition parties. About 18 parties excluding JD(U) are likely to participate in the meeting to chalk out a joint strategy for the next three months before Parliament meets again for the Winter session in November.

The Telangana labour department has called representatives of DataWind, the Canadian phone-tablet maker, to appear before it to sort out the issue of retrenchment of staff at its Hyderabad assembly facility. The firm, which set up a facility last year, allegedly retrenched about 330 staff. DataWind, however, had claimed that there was no plan to retrench any employee.