The mediation panel on Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit dispute on Thursday submitted the status report to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover. The apex court will begin hearing in the matter from tomorrow.

The top court had on July 18 directed that mediation in the case be concluded by July 31 and appeals be listed on August 2 so the court can draw up a schedule for hearing the case.

On March 8, the court had directed all sides to the suit to try and resolve the contentious issue by way of an out-of-court mediation. For this purpose, the court had formed a panel of Justice Kalifulla, spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate and mediation expert Sriram Panchu and it was asked to submit its final report to court.

A bench of five Supreme Court judges headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi will open the report on August 2 and on the basis of it, the court will determine whether to hear the case on a day-to-day basis. The Bench has asked the registry to keep the records of the cases ready.

The court’s July 11 order for a report was prompted by an application filed by Gopal Singh Visharad, an original claimant to the dispute, who filed a title suit way back in 1950, through his survivor Rajendra Singh on July 9 claiming that the mediation was making no progress. The application urged the court to stop mediation and start adjudication on the pending appeals.

—India Legal Bureau