Supreme Court/PTI
Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi has reconstituted the bench hearing Ayodhya-Ram Janmabhoomi case. Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Abdul Nazeer have now been included in the apex court bench. The bench also has Justices SA Bobde and DY Chandrachud.
Justice U U Lalit, who was part of the original five-judge Constitution Bench, had recused himself, prompting the Supreme Court to reschedule the hearing on January 29 by setting up a fresh bench.
During the last hearing on January 10, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for a Muslim party, had told a bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi that Justice Lalit appeared for former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh in 1994. Though Dhavan said he was not seeking recusal of Justice Lalit, the judge himself opted out the hearing the matter.
As many as 14 appeals have been filed in the apex court against the 2010 Allahabad High Court judgement, delivered in four civil suits, that the 2.77-acre land be partitioned equally among the three parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.
