Ayodhya verdict: Perhaps first judgement delivered on Saturday by SC

judgment in politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute case is historic in more than one sense as it is perhaps for first time in 69-year history of Supreme Court that a verdict was delivered on Saturday. Judges hold court five days a week, from Monday to Friday, and in extraordinary circumstances hold hearing in courtroom on Saturdays or any or holidays. But it was rare that Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi chose Saturday to deliver such an important judgment, a senior official of apex court said.

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'I don't remember that any judgment that has been delivered on Saturday'

"re have been hearing of cases in extraordinary circumstances on Saturdays, Sundays and even during nights. However I don't remember that any judgment has been delivered on Saturday and perhaps it is one of rare instances," H K Juneja, PPS to chief justice of India, said.

He also recalled an instance relating to demolition of Babri mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, when n chief justice of India M N Venkatachaliah h a  special sitting at his residence in evening during which apex court h expressed anguish over n Uttar Presh chief minister Kalyan Singh failing in his promise of protecting 16th-century domed structure.

Settling a fractious issue that goes back more than a century, Supreme Court in a historic verdict on Saturday backed construction of a Ram temple by a government trust at disputed site in Ayodhya and ruled that an alternative five-acre plot must be found for a mosque in Hindu holy town.

Delivering a unanimous verdict on a case that has long polarised country and frayed secular tapestry of Indian society, a five-judge bench of apex court heed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said faith of Hindus that Lord Ram was born at site was undisputed, and he is symbolically owner of land. Justice Gogoi is due to retire on vember 17.

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