Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi reconstituted the bench hearing the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute suit on Friday by inducting two new judges into the five-judge bench that will hear the case on Tuesday.
The judges impanelled are Justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, who will join the bench with CJI Gogoi and Justices SA Bobde and DY Chandrachud, said a notification issued by the Supreme Court on its website on Friday.
The freshly inducted duo is not new to the Ayodhya title dispute suit. The two had been hearing the suit while sitting with former CJI Dipak Misra since August 11, 2017. They continued on the bench and went on to decide the crucial question of whether the suit should be heard by a Constitution Bench.
After hearing the matter for over a year, the three-judge bench decided against the prayer by a 2:1 majority on September 27, 2018. Justice Nazeer gave the minority view in favour of the Constitution Bench. Justice Bhushan sided with the then CJI to suggest that the suit did not involve any constitutional question of law and should therefore continue to be heard by a three-judge bench.
The reconstitution of the bench was necessitated after Justice UU Lalit, sitting on the previous five-judge bench, withdrew from hearing the case on January 10, when the Muslim parties to the suit showed an order of November 20, 1997, showing Justice Lalit, then a lawyer, appearing for a contemner in a matter related to the Ayodhya dispute.
Although the CJI had to replace only one judge, he chose to replace two, removing Justice NV Ramana, who was part of the bench that met on the previous date.
In the next hearing, the court is expected to fix a schedule to hear the decades-old dispute, which is one of the most complex and bulky cases to be heard in recent years by any court in the country.
There are over 20,000 pages of evidence given by 88 witnesses and 15 sealed trunks containing documents in Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Hindi, Gurumukhi and Urdu needing translation into English. About 14 cross appeals will be heard involving 120 issues of law and facts arising out of the suit.