New Delhi, March 8: AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi and Nirmohi Akhara, one of the stakeholders, objected to spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's inclusion in the Supreme Court-appointed panel of mediators in the contentious Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Ayodhya title dispute case. The other two members of the panel are former Supreme Court judge Justice FMI Kalifulla and senior advocate Shriram Panchu.

Asaduddin Owaisi said the Supreme Court should have appointed a neutral person instead of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. "Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who has been appointed a mediator had earlier made a statement that 'if Muslims don't give up their claim on Ayodhya, India will become Syria'. It would've been better if the Supreme Court had appointed a neutral person," Owaisi said. Nirmohi Akhara questioned the locus standi of the spiritual guru. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Justice (Retd) Kalifullah And Sriram Panchu: All About The 3 Mediators Named by SC In Ayodhya Title Suit.

"We are opposing Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's inclusion in the panel of mediators because we want a judicial solution and not politics," Nirmohi Akhara's Mahant Sitaram Das said. "Who is Ravi Shankar to solve this matter? Nobody is going to listen to him," he added. It is not clear if any of the party will appeal before the apex court to remove the spiritual guru from the panel. Reacting to the top court's order, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said Mediation will only solve the issue.

Supreme Court orders mediation to settle the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Ayodhya title dispute case:

"I just heard of this news, I think this will be good for the country, mediation is the only way," he said. Earlier today, the Supreme Court ordered mediation to settle the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid Ayodhya title dispute case. Ordering the mediation, the five-judge constitution bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justices SA Bobde, DY Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer barred both the print and visual media from reporting on the mediation proceedings.

The mediation proceedings would be held at Faizabad and would commence in a week. The order pronounced by Chief Justice Gogoi did not pass any specific guidelines, leaving it to the mediators to take a call, and said that mediators could take any legal assistance that may be necessary.

The suggestion for mediation was mooted by Justice Bobde, during the hearing when both the Hindu and the Muslim sides were sparring over the veracity of documents related to the case which were translated by the Uttar Pradesh government and filed with the apex court registry.

The apex court is hearing of a batch of cross-petitions challenging the 2010 Allahabad High Court verdict trifurcating the disputed site and giving one party each to the Nirmohi Akhada, Ram Lalla and the Sunni Waqf Board.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 08, 2019 03:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).