New Delhi:
With uncertainty over whether the Babri title suit judgement will be deferred or delivered, one final plea for settlement was made in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, just two days before the judgement.
A retired bureaucrat, Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, approached the apex court five days after a three-judge Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court rejected his petition for deferring the verdict and to allow mediation to find a solution to the 60-year-old Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit dispute.
Justice Altamas Kabir - who approached for this case - refused to hear it saying he lacked jurisdiction to hear a civil suit. The case will now come up before a different set of judges.
The case hasn't been listed for Thursday and legal experts says chances of it being listed for Friday morning are bleak as all the respondents will have to be present in Delhi.
But one thing is certain - no matter what the High Court decides on September 24, it can be challenged before the Supreme Court. And this is the reason why Home Minister P Chidambaram made an appeal to the people to maintain peace.
"It would not be right to say to say that one has won and the other has lost. One, or both sides, can immediately apply to the Supreme Court if they feel they have been decided against," said Chidambaram.
Today, the petitioner sought a delay in the verdict. Raising law and order concerns, the applicant feared that anti-national elements may create a law an order situation in the entire country.
Also, at present, Central and state forces are stretched to their limits with Commonwealth Games, Bihar elections and the turmoil in Kashmir.
Even in the Supreme Court all major stakeholders are planning to oppose this move.
"The Sunni WAQF board is against any deferment of the judgement. All parties had already been consulted by the Allahabad High Court for a settlement so let the judgement be delivered," said Anoop Jaat Chaudhury, Counsel for the Sunni WAQF Board.
And with just a day left for the verdict, Uttar Pradesh too is preparing for judgement day.