Supreme Court extends time for the Ayodhya mediation. Gives the 3-member panel time till 15 August to complete the process.

A five judge Constitution bench on Friday passed an order allowing the three-member mediation panel for the Ayodhya dispute case an extension of time till August 15 to submit its report. During the hearing, CJI Ranjan Gogoi also said that the bench cannot share the progress made by the panel as it is confidential.

The Chairperson of the mediation committee former Supreme Court judge  F M I Kalifulla had sought an extension of time till August 15 to complete the mediation process from the apex body. The five judge SC bench said it was inclined to allow the same and passed the order. 

The Supreme Court on Thursday had issued an order which states that it will take up the matter on Friday. The matter was heard by a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and also comprising Justices S.A. Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer.

The eight-week deadline for the mediation talks had culminated on May 3.

Notably, this was the first hearing in the disputed Ayodhya land matter after the formation of mediation panel comprising of three mediators - retired Supreme Court Justice Kalifulla, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Sriram Panchu.

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The Supreme Court had on March 8 ordered a time-bound 8-week mediation into the decades-old Ayodhya dispute, appointing the three-member panel and setting Faizabad as the location where the mediation would be held.  

On March 13, the top court-appointed mediators issued an order following the first day of their discussions with stakeholders at the Awadh university at Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh.

"The Committee brings to the notice of all concerned, the observation of the Honourable Supreme Court of India, which is to the following effect: We are also of the view that the mediation proceedings should be conducted with utmost confidentiality so as to ensure its success which can only be safeguarded by directing that the proceedings of mediation and the views expressed therein by any of the parties including the learned mediators shall be kept confidential and shall not be revealed to any other person," the report by the three mediators read.

Further, the three-member committee had also directed that there should not be any reporting of the mediation proceedings in the print or any other media.

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