Nirmohi Akhara also seeks stay on HC order

Close on the heels of petitioner Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, who had sought postponement of the high court verdict in the long pending Ayodhya case, another party to the litigation is all set to move the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking a postponement.

While seeking a deferment for a period of three months to enable both sides to explore possibilities of a negotiated settlement, the party also proposes to seek extension of three months for the high court judge Justice Dharam Veer Sharma, whose retirement on October 1 would otherwise necessitate the constitution of a fresh bench to hear the case.

The Nirmohi Akhara, whose counsel Ranjit Lal Verma left for New Delhi Monday afternoon to submit his application before the apex court when it meets to take a final call on Tripathi's plea on Tuesday.

A three-judge special bench led by Chief Justice S H Kapadia has been constituted to hear the plea for deferment of the judgment, that was earlier scheduled to be pronounced by another special bench of Allahabad High Court on September 24.

Tripathi's plea is bound to get some more strength with the Nirmohi Akhara also following suit . "I am on my way to Delhi to appeal to the Supreme Court that it should defer the high court's verdict for three months. During this period efforts should be made find an amicable out-of-court settlement", Nirmohi Akhara counsel Ranjit Lal Verma said.

"I am also going to request the Supreme Court to grant extension of three months to Justice Dharam Veer Sharma of Allahabad High Court , who is otherwise due to retire on October 1", he added.

The verdict was deferred following an appeal submission of an application by Ramesh Chandra Tripathi before the Supreme Court , which fixed September 28 as the date for taking a final decision on this question. Earlier, while two judges Justice S U Khan and Justice Sudhir Agrawal of the three - judge Allahabad High Court bench had rejected Tripathi's plea , the third judge Justice Dharam Veer Sharma gave a dissenting order upholding Tripathi's plea.