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Ayodhya case: Daily hearing in Supreme Court from July 25 if mediation efforts fail

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Ayodhya case: Daily hearing in Supreme Court from July 25 if mediation efforts fail

The Supreme Court today (Thursday, July 11) asked the three-member mediation panel in the Ayodhya land dispute case for its status report by July 18 and said that if its finds that the talks are not working, it will commence a day-to-day hearing of the Ayodhya title dispute appeals against Allahabad High Court’s September 30, 2010 verdict from July 25.

The mediation panel is headed by Justice FM Ibrahim Kalifulla, with spiritual teacher Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu as the other two members.

“We ask the mediation committee chairperson to give a status report. This report will be submitted by next week and we will decide on this next week. We also make it clear that in case the mediation committee says it should be concluded, we will start hearing the appeals from the July 25,” said a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi today.

The court’s order seeking a progress report from the committee came on an urgent plea made by a claimant to the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land that the mediation proceedings were making no headway whatsoever.

The panel was earlier given time till August 15 to engage in talks with the parties for an amicable settlement to heal hearts and minds.

The committee is now in the thick of its second round of talks. It finished the initial round and had filed an interim status report dated May 7 in the Supreme Court, successfully seeking more time from it.

On July 9, Rajendra Singh, survivor of Gopal Singh Visharad, an original claimant to the dispute who filed a title suit way back in 1950, said the mediation was making no headway. It was listed before a bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer.

Singh asked the CJI to stop mediation and start adjudication on the appeals pending since the past eight years in the Supreme Court.

Singh said that “he is entitled to offer worship without any obstruction according to the rites and tenets of his religion at the birthplace of Lord Shri Ram Chandra”.

Singh’s counsel, senior advocate K Parasaran said it was “difficult to settle disputes like this and the Supreme Court should authoritatively decide the matter”.

“The suit was filed in 1950, even before the Constitution came into existence. Sixty-nine years have passed since,” Parasaran submitted, highlighting the supposed futility of efforts to settle the dispute.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, lawyer for the Muslim appellants, questioned the purpose of the application filed by Singh. “This is just to intimidate us. Very serious mediation is going on. This application should have ideally asked the court to direct the mediation committee for a status report, instead it wants the court to entirely scrap the mediation process. Unhappy parties like them want to scrap the mediation efforts,” Dhavan submitted.

To this, the CJI said since the court had constituted the mediation panel, the court itself would ask the committee for a report.

“We are entitled to know what is happening,” Justice Gogoi said to Dhavan.

Justice Kalifulla has been asked to detail the progress made so far and the stage at which the mediation is currently in.

The Bench had sent the Ayodhya dispute for mediation on March 8. It had given the panel an initial deadline of eight weeks.

The eight weeks was the time given to the Muslim parties to examine the accuracy and relevance of the Uttar Pradesh government’s official translation of thousands of pages of oral depositions and exhibits in the Ayodhya title suit appeals pending since 2010 in the Supreme Court.

The committee has already held several rounds of mediation with stakeholders in Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh of which the disputed area in Ayodhya is a part of.

The CJI had expressed hope that mediation may spell a peaceful end to the volatile dispute between the members of the two religious faiths. The Constitution Bench chose mediation despite the fact that barring the Sunni Waqf Board and the Nirmohi Akhara, one of the Hindu petitioners, all were against mediation and some Hindu parties objecting that their faith in Lord Ram’s birthplace was “non-negotiable”.

But the judges had said mediation may help in “healing relations”.The Bench had explained that the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case “is not about the 1500 sq. ft. of disputed land, but about religious sentiments. We know its impact on public sentiment, on body politic. We are looking at minds, hearts and healing if possible”.

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Lok Sabha elections: INDIA bloc in Bihar seals seat-sharing deal, Congress get 9 seats, RJD 26

Purnea and Katihar, currently held by the Janata Dal (United), had emerged as the sticking point in seat-sharing talks between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

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The Opposition INDIA bloc sealed the seat-sharing deal in Bihar for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Mahagathbandhan’s largest constituent, RJD will field its candidates from 26 seats, including Purnea and Hajipur, while the Congress will contest on nine seats, including Kishanganj and Patna Sahib. Meanwhile, the Left will fight on five seats.

Purnea and Katihar, currently held by the Janata Dal (United), had emerged as the sticking point in seat-sharing talks between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

Reportedly, the Congress has been made to give up the Purnea Lok Sabha seat, which recent entrant Pappu Yadav, husband of Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan, was hoping to contest, mentioning that he had received assurance of Congress ticket from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.

The seat will be contested by RJD, which recently gave the party ticket to JD(U) turncoat Bima Bharti, but stopped short of announcing it formally. The INDIA bloc seat-sharing announcement comes a day after the filing of nomination papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls was over. The RJD has fielded its candidates in all four seats going to elections in the first phase.

Earlier, Tejashwi Yadav attended an INDIA bloc meeting regarding Bihar’s seat-sharing formula at Congress leader Mukul Wasnik’s residence and said that the RJD, the Congress and the Left will fight the Lok Sabha elections together in Bihar. He added that the INDIA bloc partners have agreed verbally on the seat-sharing arrangement and all the constituents are getting a respectable deal. Tejashwi Yadav’s remarks came amid reports of disquiet in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance in Bihar over seat sharing.

In the previous Lok Sabha elections, the National Democratic Alliance, including the BJP, JD(U) and LJP won 39 seats. The first phase of the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for April 19.

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Tax terrorism has to stop, says Congress after Income Tax Department issues fresh Rs 1,700 crore notice

The Congress has accused the BJP of squeezing it financially and of using tax authorities against it ahead of Lok Sabha elections beginning April 19.

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Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Congress’ financial woes worsened once again with the Income Tax Department issuing a fresh Rs 1,700 crore notice. The tax department issued the notice due to discrepancies in tax returns. 

The fresh notice is for assessment years 2017-18 to 2020-21 and includes penalty and interest. This comes a day after the Delhi High Court dismissed the party’s petition challenging the tax notices. 

The opposition party is already facing a funds crunch after Income Tax authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore and froze its funds. Furthermore, the party has not received any relief from the High Court in the case and is likely to approach the Supreme Court. The Congress has accused the BJP of squeezing it financially and of using tax authorities against it ahead of Lok Sabha elections beginning April 19.

Addressing a press conference, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said that the notices are being sent to cripple the party financially. Calling the action as tax terrorism, Jairam Ramesh said that this attack on Congress has to stop.

Earlier in February, the Income Tax department had found fault in the party’s tax returns and demanded Rs 200 crore. Subsequently, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) had asked the party to pay the dues and froze their accounts. The Congress stated the tax tribunal’s order freezing its funds was an attack on democracy as the order came just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal stated that this is a deliberate attempt by the Narendra Modi-led to bankrupt the Congress ahead of elections. He mentioned that the timing of the penalty notice, following the Delhi High Court’s dismissal of Congress petitions challenging tax reassessment proceedings, reeks of political vendetta.

He underlined that while political parties are typically exempt from taxes, this penalty is allegedly due to delayed filing of returns. He asserted that it is a blatant move by the Modi government to cripple the Congress financially, especially during the elections. He further asserted that in response to the notice, the Congress plans to stage a nationwide protest, condemning BJP’s exploitation of central agencies to target opposition parties. 

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Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Tejashwi Yadav mourns demise of Mukhtar Ansari, demand probe

Akhilesh Yadav mentioned that such doubtful cases should be investigated under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge.

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Mukhtar Ansari, gangster turned politician, who has been in jail since 2005, died due to cardiac arrest on Thursday. After Ansari’s death, his family alleged that the politician had been poisoned in the jail.  

Expressing sorrow, several opposition leaders demanded a probe into the death of Mukhtar Ansari. Notably, the gangster turned politician submitted an application in Barabanki court, alleging he was given some poisonous substance along with his food. He claimed that on March 19, his nerves and limbs started paining after he consumed the food.

Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav wrote on X that a few days ago Mukhtar Ansari complained that he had been poisoned in jail, yet it was not taken seriously. He added that prima facie the move does not seem justifiable and humane. He stated that constitutional institutions should take suo motu cognizance of such strange cases and incidents.

Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party Chief, Akhilesh Yadav said that the state is going through the worst phase of government anarchy. He added that it is the responsibility and duty of the government to protect someone’s life in every situation and at every place. 

The former Chief Minister added that the death of a hostage or prisoner while being confined in the police station, in a fight inside the jail, on falling ill inside the prison, while being taken to court, while being taken to hospital or during treatment in hospital will erode public confidence in the judicial process. He mentioned that such doubtful cases should be investigated under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge. He claimed that the way the government bypasses the judicial process and adopts other methods is completely illegal. 

Taking to social media platform X, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati said that the persistent apprehensions and serious allegations made by Mukhtar Ansari’s family regarding his death in jail require a high-level investigation so that the facts in his death can be revealed. 

AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said that the people of Ghazipur lost their favourite son and brother. He added that Mukhtar Ansari had made serious allegations against the administration that he was poisoned, but the government did not pay any attention to his treatment.

Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajput stated that custodial deaths and firing in jail has become very common in Uttar Pradesh. He added that high level investigation should be conducted.

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