SC defers Ayodhya title verdict by a week

The Supreme Court on Thursday put off by a week its hearing into a plea to defer the Ayodhya title verdict by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court.

Supreme Court judge, Justice R V Raveendran, gave this order while hearing the petition filed by retired bureaucrat Ramesh Chand Tripathi to defer the title suit verdict.

Consequently, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court will not deliver the judgment in the case of Friday.

The next date for hearing in the Supreme Court has been fixed for September 28.

Tripathi had, on Wednesday, approached the apex court five days after the high court rejected his petition for deferring the verdict and to allow mediation to find a solution to the contentious dispute.

The Allahabad high court had also imposed 'exemplary costs' of Rs 50,000 on him, and termed his effort for an out-of-court settlement as a "mischievous attempt".

The special leave petition by Tripathi, which sought some time to allow mediation, also challenged the costs imposed on him.

In the petition filed through advocate Sunil Jain, Tripathi had cited several reasons for deferment of the verdict, which he said would be in "public interest" in view of the apprehension of communal flareup, upcoming Commonwealth Games, elections in Bihar and violence in Kashmir Valley and Naxal-hit states.

The petition had feared that there would be inadequate security personnel in Uttar Pradesh to provide security.