The Supreme Court has rejected the deferment plea in the Ayodhya title suit.  A 3 member bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, S.H. Kapadia and consisting of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan announced that the three-judge Allahabad High Court bench could go ahead with the pronouncement of judgement.

Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati, who was told to be present by the SC, had said the most preferred solution to the problem would be settlement but it has not taken place and the uncertainty which is prevailing should not be allowed to continue. 

The hearing started at 10:30 this morning with the special leave petition of retired bureaucrat Ramesh Chand Tripathi being represented by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi who had argued for deferment of the verdict in order for the parties to the suit to reach a settlement.

The 3 member bench is now free to pronounce the judgement. Though the apex court has not set a date for the lower court to pronounce the verdict, the HC bench is expected to give the verdict within the next 2 days due to the impending retirement of a judge on the bench, Justice D.V. Sharma, who is due to retire on October 1, 2010.

Even with the impending retirement, Justice Gokhale had made it clear in the last hearing saying that there are constitutional safeguards regarding this scenario. The retiring judge can be allowed to stay on as an ad hoc judge or his judgement could be pronounced by the successor judge.

Last week, a 2 member bench of the SC consisting of Justice Raveendran and Justice Gokhale had heard Tripathi’s plea regarding deferment and even though Justice Raveendran was not in favour of deferring the plea, Justice Gokhale had expressed his opinion that even if there was a small chance of settlement, the court should allow the parties to explore that option.

Tripathi had sought postponement citing that the State and the Central governments were not ready to deal with the possible law and order ramifications of the verdict due to the Commonwealth Games and Uttar Pradesh floods.

In today’s hearing though, it was made clear by all the parties to the suit that a settlement was not possible and that Tripathi was not a serious party to the suit who had not attended the hearings at the Allahabad Bench on a regular basis.

Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee, who appeared for one of the parties said, "Judicial function cannot be made hostage to consequences".