The Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has referred the Babri Masjid-Ram Mandir dispute to a panel of meditators for the settlement. The panel shall be headed by the Retired Supreme Court judge Justice F. M. I. Kalifullah, the other two member shall be the spiritual Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Shri Ram Panchu. The panel shall have the liberty to solicit other mediators or to seek any legal assistance.
The State Government has been directed to provide suitable facilities for the proceeding which shall be held in the Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh. The mediation process has been initiated in one week and the first status report of the process need to be submitted within four weeks to the Court.
The process of mediation shall be held in camera, and all the information of the mediation process shall remain confidential with no publication in print media and electronic media.
Take a look at the mediators and their backgrounds,
Justice F M Kalifullah:
Fakkir Mohammad Ibrahim Khalifulla is a former judge of the Supreme Court, he was enrolled as an advocate on 20th August 1975, from then he began practicing labor law in a law firm. He was appointed as a judge of the Madras High Court on March 2, 2000, later in September 2011 he was appointed as the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court and on April 2012 he was elevated to Supreme Court judge. Justice F M Kalifulla retired from the Supreme Court on 22nd July 2016.
Shri Shri Ravi Shankar:
Shri Shri Ravi Shankar is a spiritual leader and is involved in various social welfare activities. He founded the Art of Living Foundation in 1981, which provides social support to people. In 1997 has established a Geneva-based charity which is an International Association for human value that engages in relief works and rural development.
He has attempted an out of court settlement of the Ayodhya dispute by having talk with various religious leaders from both Hindu and Muslim group last year. He has suggested last year that Muslims should give up form their claim on the disputed land as it is not a place of importance for them.
He expressed that legal adjudication of the dispute shall cause heartburn to the losing side which may create discord in either case. Thus he appealed both sides to come together so that the respect for each is restored.
Shriram Panchu:
Shriram Panchu is one of the world-class mediator and senior advocate based on Chennai. He is the president of the Association of All Indian Mediators and also the director of the International Mediation Institute. India’s first court-annexed mediation center was established by him which is very instrumental in making mediations.
