Ayodhya hearing delayed: SC not to hear case on January 29

New Delhi: A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court which was to meet on Tuesday to draw up a schedule for the final hearing of the politically contentious Ayodhya case will not sit, according to a circular issued by the top court on Sunday.

The bench will not sit due to the unavailability of Justice SA Bobde. The notice did not set a date for the next hearing. The bench was expected to meet, not for a final hearing of the case, but draw up a chart for the hearing.

The bench also includes Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and justices DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer. CJI Gogoi had recently reconstituted the bench to drop Justice UU Lalit who recused himself from hearing the case, and Justice NV Ramana. Instead, the CJI brought in justices Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer to the bench. These two judges were part of the threejudge bench, led by former CJI Dipak Misra, which had heard the case.


The Justice Misra-led bench had rejected a plea for the case to be heard by a five-judge bench given its significance for the communities involved.